Theoretical Evaluation Self-Test (TEST): a Preliminary Validation Study (Instrument Development‪)‬

Over nearly 40 years, several scales have been developed to measure therapist theoretical orientation (Poznanski & McLennan, 1995). This study, unlike previous efforts, focuses on "community clinicians"--social workers and other mental health professionals (such as psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, and psychiatric nurses) who work in community treatment settings. Community clinicians must add several components to the traditional repertoire of psychotherapy theories and clinical approaches: an ability to work with a broad range of cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, theoretical constructs to articulate the environmental influence on clients, and integration of psychosocial interventions with biological treatments. Theoretical orientation guides how the clinician understands psychopathology and the process of helping, and each theory and approach has associated techniques and a style of relating to the client. Norcross (1985) stated that theoretical orientation serves "descriptive, explanatory, developmental and generative functions in clinical practice" (p. 14). Theoretical orientation influences what clinicians think and what they say. Survey and measurement research on psychotherapy theories find that differences in theoretical orientation persist over time, even as eclecticism becomes more common (Larson, 1980; Norcross, Hedges, & Castle, 2002; Poznanski & McLennan, 1995). Quantitative process studies show that clinicians of different theoretical orientations say different things to clients, ask questions about different features of a problem, and even have a different emotional tone (Ablon & Jones, 1998; Jones & Pulos, 1993).