Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


osu1186189837.pdf (515.7 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The relationship between therapists' use of humor and therapeutic alliance

Meyer, Kevin J
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186189837

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Human Development and Family Science.
Among all the aspects of the therapeutic process that have been discussed in the literature, therapeutic alliance has emerged as a critical component. The vast majority of research on therapeutic alliance has been based within an individual psychotherapy framework, and there remains a paucity of research on this concept from a couple and/or family therapy perspective. Concomitantly, the use of humor by therapists and its effect on the therapeutic process is an area of study that has been given little attention by researchers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the use of humor within couple therapy and therapeutic alliance. The sample for this study included 40 couples presenting as clients at a large midwestern university Couple and Family Therapy clinic. Clients and therapists completed the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), a 12-question self-report questionnaire that assesses one’s perspective on therapeutic alliance, after sessions one and three. Participants agreed to have their first-session videotape saved for analysis, which were coded using the Humor Rating Scale, an observational scale developed to assess the frequency and type of humor used by a therapist. It was hypothesized that the frequency of helpful humor used by a therapist would be directly related to therapeutic alliance at sessions one and three, reduced premature termination, and less discrepancy in alliance scores among male and female partners in therapy. The use of humor seemed to be important to the therapists in this study in regards to therapeutic alliance, with significant correlations between therapists’ WAI scores and the use of humor at both sessions one and three. Conversely, therapists’ use of humor had little to no impact on the clients’ perceptions of therapeutic alliance at session one or three. Also, the results displayed a significant difference between the amount of humor used in the first session between those clients who prematurely terminated therapy and those who did not, with the latter exposed to nearly twice the instances of humor. The frequency of humor was not shown to play a role in whether couples displayed a split alliance.
Suzanne Bartle-Haring (Advisor)
87 p.
Humor; Therapeutic Alliance; Couple Therapy; Marital Therapy; Family Therapy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Meyer, K. J. (2007). The relationship between therapists' use of humor and therapeutic alliance [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186189837

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Meyer, Kevin. The relationship between therapists' use of humor and therapeutic alliance. 2007. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186189837.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Meyer, Kevin. "The relationship between therapists' use of humor and therapeutic alliance." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1186189837

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1186189837
6,071
© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.