Construct validity of the comprehensive psychotherapeutic interventions rating scale

The structure of the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale (CPIRS) was studied in a field survey of 3,604 Dutch psychotherapists. Explorative factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis, was applied to analyze interventions representative of 5 psychotherapeutic orientations (i.e., experiential, psychodynamic, directive-behavioral, cognitive, and systemic) as well as interventions representing a common factor (i.e., facilitating). Twelve factors representing specific and common factors were found. The specific factors (behavioral, cognitive, experiential, psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and strategic interventions and experiential procedures [chair work]) reflect the empirically based intervention categories in the CPIRS. The other factors-facilitating, authoritative support, coaching, directive process, and structuring interventions-may be viewed to a certain extent as common factors. All common factors, except the facilitating interventions, were newly derived from the existing categories in the CPIRS. Overall, the factors discriminated well between orientations.