SESSION IMPACT IN COUNSELING PROCESS RESEARCH - COMMENT

R. Elliott and M. M. Wexler (1994) have introduced the Session Impacts Scale, and W. B. Stiles, S. Reynolds, G. E. Hardy, A. Rees, M. Barkha m, and D.A. Shapiro (1994) have undertaken a new factor analysis of th e Session Evaluation Questionnaire with a British sample of clients. T hese 2 measures of session-level psychotherapy effects have great pote ntial as research tools. In this comment on the 2 articles, issues of retest reliability, the connection of session-level measures to resear ch strategies based on other units of analyses, and suggested uses of the SIS and the SEQ are discussed. The importance of context-sensitive session impact research and of a comprehensive theory relating sessio n impacts to therapy outcome is also stressed.