Development of the therapeutic language coding system (SICOLENTE): Reliability and construct validity

Abstract

Since the use of language is a core aspect of psychotherapy, its study requires instruments that allow for further research. The aim of this study is to present an observational instrument capable of analyzing the language used in psychotherapeutic settings, both by therapists and clients. The SICOLENTE instrument was applied to two different samples: The Three Approaches to Psychotherapy film and a naturalistic sample. 7710 utterances from 31 sessions (three from the demonstration film and 28 from a naturalistic setting) were coded. Two studies were conducted: in the first study, inter and intra coder reliability (dimension and category levels) and Generalizability theory analyzes were assessed, whilst in the second study, construct validity was tested with several hypotheses. The final instrument resulted in 20 categories with three dimensions: Conversational Act (7 categories), Therapeutic topic (6 categories) and Content (7 categories). The three dimensions showed excellent inter and intra coder reliability and the generalizability coefficients were excellent. Out of the 24 validity hypothesis proposed,19 were accepted. The finding suggests that the SICOLENTE is a reliable and valid instrument that can be applied to investigate the performance of various theoretical models. Its three dimensional structure gives it the flexibility to be able to carry out macroscopic or microscopic language research.

Functional Coding System for Verbal Interaction in Clinical Contexts

“…The main purpose of this study was to develop a functional description-based Inter-and intra-observer reliability indexes are good and excellent for all the functional based categories, similar to other published coding manuals (i.e., Callaghan et al, 2008;Rodríguez-Morejón et al, 2018). We would like to highlight this result because is important to note that the descriptions are not based in a topographical definition of the verbal behavior of the client.…”

“…Additionally, there are at least four verbal behavior coding systems that have not been included in the previous systematic review: the therapeutic language coding system (SICOLENTE; Rodríguez-Morejón et al, 2018), The Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Rating Scale (FAPRS; Callaghan et al, 2008), the Multidimensional System for Coding Behaviors in Therapist-Client interaction (SiMCCIT; Zamignani, 2008) and the Verbal Interaction Categorization System in Therapy (SIST-INTER-CVT;Froxán Parga et al, 2011). Firstly, SICOLENTE is a system created with the intention of analyzing the language and the changes of meaning that occur in session, for this it has a structure based on three dimensions: Conversational Act, 7 categories; Therapeutic topic, 6 categories; and Content.…”

“…Firstly, SICOLENTE is a system created with the intention of analyzing the language and the changes of meaning that occur in session, for this it has a structure based on three dimensions: Conversational Act, 7 categories; Therapeutic topic, 6 categories; and Content. 7 categories (Rodríguez-Morejón et al, 2018). The developers of this system do not make a theoretical foundation of the categories.…”

“…Although, they specify how they have created them, they do not point out what relationship they have with any theory about the process of change. In general, SICOLENTE has good psychometric properties and can be useful for recording content changes within the conversation between therapist and client (Rodríguez-Morejón et al, 2018). Secondly, FAPRS (Callaghan et al, 2008) is a based on a functional analytical perspective of human behavior.…”