Development of a Scale for Assessing Basic Psychotherapeutic Skills

Background: Well-established scales for the observation-based assessment of psychotherapy competence encompass multiple domains, require extensive rater training, and are rather cost-intensive. Objective: To develop a comprehensive but easy-to-administer instrument for the observation-based assessment of basic communication and counseling skills in both real and simulated patient encounters, the Clinical Communication Skills Scale (CCSS). Methods: We investigated the content validity and applicability of this scale. We then presented videos of simulated therapy sessions conducted by a competent vs. noncompetent therapist online to N = 209 laypersons and psychology students. Results: Results suggested a one-factorial solution. Internal consistency was excellent ( α = .94). For most aspects, convergent validity with established scales was moderate to high. The CCSS effectively differentiated between both levels of skill. Conclusions: The CCSS appears to be a feasible, reliable, and valid instrument. Nonetheless, its psychometric criteria should be investigated further in clinical samples, with licensed therapists, and in other languages.