The DOI matches its Crossref record; 28 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Adaption and validation of the Working Alliance Inventory for General Practice: qualitative review and cross-sectional surveys
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Relational aspects of primary care are important, but we have no standard measure for assessment. The 'working alliance' incorporates elements of the therapeutic relationship, shared decision-making, goal setting and communication skills. The Working Alliance Inventory (short form) (WAI-SF) has been used in adult psychology, and a high score on the survey is associated with improved outcomes for clients. OBJECTIVE: To adapt the WAI-SF for use between GPs and patients and to test its concurrent validity with measures of shared decision-making and the doctor-patient relationship and discriminant validity with measures of social desirability. METHODS: Two rounds of online survey feedback from 55 GPs and 47 patients were used to adapt the WAI-SF-the WAI-GP. The tool was then completed by 142 patients in waiting rooms after seeing their GP and by 16 GPs at the end of their session. Concurrent validity with measures of shared decision-making and patient-doctor depth of relationship was determined using Spearman Rho correlations. Patients also completed two social desirability surveys, and discriminant validity with WAI-GP was assessed. RESULTS: Following feedback, the survey was re-worded to remove phrases that were perceived as judgmental or irrelevant. The patient measure of the WAI-GP was strongly correlated with Dyadic OPTION (rho = 0.705, P = 0.0001) and Patient-Doctor Depth of Relationship scale (rho = 0.591, P = 0.0001) and not with measures of social desirability. CONCLUSION: The psychometric properties of the WAI-GP support its use for measuring GP-patient alliance. Possibilities for use include assessing the influence of therapeutic alliance on the effectiveness of interventions.
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WAI-SF scores in the current study were comparable to those typically reported in previous treatment studies.
“Scores on the WAI-SF were comparable to those typically reported in previous treatment studies (for a review, see Sturgiss et al., 2019).”
From Behavioral Experiments for Intolerance of Uncertainty: A Randomized Clinical Trial for Adults With Generalized Anxiety Disorder (2022) · cites this paper as Sturgiss et al., 2019
The Introduction mentions previous medical uses of the WAI-SF, and the Results (Table 5) report scores for this paper’s adapted WAI-GP. Neither passage gives typical WAI-SF scores from previous treatment studies or compares those scores with the citing study’s scores. Searched for typical scores and comparisons with previous treatment studies. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Sturgiss, E. A., Rieger, E., Haesler, E., Ridd, M. J., Douglas, K., & Galvin, S. L.
- Affiliations
- Australian National University (AU)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Mountain Area Health Education Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sturgiss, Elizabeth A
- ORCID
- Venue
- Family Practice
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-11-26
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 516-522
- ISSN
- 0263-2136 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2229
- PMC
- PMC6669034
- OpenAlex
- W2902698726
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 0.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Family Practice (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- La Trobe University
- Funders
- Chris Silagy Research Scholarship
- National Institute for Health Research (PDF-2014-07-013)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Primary Care and Health Outcomes
- Keywords
- Working Alliance Inventory, therapeutic relationship, physician-patient relationship, general practice, shared decision-making, scale adaptation, psychometric validation, concurrent validity, discriminant validity, social desirability, primary care
- MeSH terms
- Decision Making, Shared, Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Physician-Patient Relations, Primary Health Care, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reproducibility of Results, Patient Satisfaction, Internet
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