OBJECTIVES: The alliance corresponds to a key concept in the psychotherapy process. In the study a Portuguese translation of the CALPAS-P (California Psychotherapy Alliance Scales - patient version) and reliability coefficients were created. METHODS: Bilingual individuals used back-translation technique to create a Portuguese version of the scales. To assess its reliability, a sample of mental health professionals currently attending individual psychotherapy sessions was invited to answer the translated version of CALPAS-P. RESULTS: Eighty-three questionnaires were filled out. Mean scale scores were 5.66 for PC, 5.20 for PWC, 6.10 for TUI and 5.99 for WSC. The scales showed a high correlation between them, with values ranging from 0.57 to 0.74. Reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) for the CALPAS-P were also high: 0.90 for all items; 0.71 for PC, 0.56 for PWC, 0.71 for TUI, and 0.84 for WSC. DISCUSSION: These coefficients were favorably comparable to those of the original studies using the English version. Having available the Portuguese version of CALPAS-P and some of its psychometric features may facilitate the measurement of therapeutic alliance in further psychotherapy studies.
Psychotherapy; Scales; Translations; Reproducibility of results
