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Intervention approaches to bullying are largely preventive in nature, and even these have been shown to be ineffective, if not iatrogenic, with adolescents. Responses to bullying are limited to traditional punitive approaches or "no-blame" approaches aiming to restore the relationship between the targeted students. Neither of these approaches may effectively engage the perpetrator of bullying at a motivational level, and we propose motivational interviewing (MI) as a means of promoting meaningful behavioral change among youths who bully. We provide a narrative review of MI and map its core features onto the extant literature on self-reported motivations for bullying, highlighting the ways that MI fits with bullying and could serve as a potent solution that could be deployed by school psychologists and other student support staff members. Qualitative preliminary feedback and initial competency in MI from trained practitioners are presented as preliminary data from a cluster-randomized control trial, documenting school staff perspectives on the integration of MI into their approach to bullying with recommendations for integrating MI into school settings.

Even when raters demonstrate agreement in the use of a measure, limited score variability or violation of often-ignored statistical assumptions can result in lower reliability estimates than intuitively expected. This article uses data drawn from two randomized controlled trials of schema therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of major depression and binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa (N = 212) to illustrate the limits of the intraclass coefficient. Randomly selected therapy sessions were rated for therapeutic alliance quality by independent observers using the well-validated Vanderbilt Psychotherapy Process Scale and Vanderbilt Therapeutic Alliance Scale. Scores on subscales related to therapist behavior were restricted, indicating consistent alliance-supportive actions. Inter-rater reliability estimates were low despite high agreement between raters, however. The use of Bland–Altman plots to visualize agreement and data spread is suggested as a useful tool for researchers, consistent with the ideal of exploring reliability from a number of perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines childhood and clinical factors theorized to impact therapeutic alliance development over the course of psychotherapy. Raters assessed the therapeutic alliance of 212 client-therapist dyads, participating in two randomized controlled trials of schema therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy for binge eating or major depression, at three time points. Linear mixed models were used to characterize therapeutic alliance development over time and assess the influence of childhood trauma, perceived parental bonding, diagnosis and therapy type on scores. Participants differed in initial alliance ratings for all subscales but had similar growth trajectories in all but the patient hostility subscale. A diagnosis of bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder predicted greater initial levels of client distress, client dependency and overall client contribution to a strong therapeutic alliance, compared with a diagnosis of depression. Therapy type, childhood trauma and perceived parental bonds did not predict alliance scores. Findings highlight the potential influence of clinical and personal characteristics on alliance strength and development, with implications for maximizing treatment outcomes through anticipating and responding to these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]