The Impact of Mindfulness and Meditation Practice on Client Perceptions of Common Therapeutic Factors

Development and validation of a 12-item version of the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (B-L RI:mini) using item response theory

The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (B-L RI; Barrett-Lennard, (2015). The Relationship Inventory A Complete Resource and Guide. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-201602103917) is the most widely used measure of the facilitative conditions described by Carl Rogers as important for constructive personality development in his person-centered theory. At with 64 items it is however time consuming for participants to complete, and even in its shorter form, the B-L RI is 40-items long. In order to improve its utility, a mini form of the B-L RI was developed. In study 1, we used item response theory to select 12 out of the full 64 items to form the B-L RI:mini based on their discrimination, difficulty, information, and measurement invariance across the English (n = 298), Chinese (n = 658), and Spanish (n = 330) language versions of the inventory. In study 2 (N = 362), we validated the reliability and validity of the new 12-item measure. It was found that the B-L RI:mini showed excellent total internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity. According to the results of the study, the B-L RI:mini maintains optimal psychometric properties with a small number of items. This scale is recommended for use in further studies.

Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Counselor Characteristics and Session Variables

Mindfulness has garnered interest as a counselor development tool for enhancing the therapeutic relationship and increasing counselor trainee effectiveness, yet empirical study of counselor mindfulness is limited. A study of the relationship between mindfulness and client perceived empathy among 55 client-counselor trainee dyads is reported. The relationships between counselor trainee mindfulness, self-compassion and ambiguity tolerance, experiential avoidance, and session depth were also examined in this exploratory study. Counselor trainee mindfulness was associated with client perceived empathy and both mindfulness and self-compassion were associated with lower experiential avoidance and greater session depth as rated by the counselor trainee. Self compassion was positively related to tolerance for ambiguity. Implications for counselors, educators, and supervisors and suggestions for practical application of mindfulness for counselor development are discussed.