The preliminary development and psychometric properties of the Psychotherapy Side Effects Scale

Abstract

Background: Side effects in psychotherapy are common and have a negative impact on patients or clients. However, effective evaluation tools are still lacking and have not been fully studied. The present study aims to develop a scale with good reliability and validity to measure the side effects of psychotherapy. Methods: The 25 items in the Psychotherapy Side Effects Scale (PSES) were condensed and distributed to 420 subjects online to test its psychometric properties. Results: The internal consistency of the PSES was satisfactory to excellent (Cronbach's ɑ coefficient was.95, and the Guttman split-half coefficient was 0.88). A statistically significant negative correlation between the satisfaction score and the total score of the PSES was shown (r = −0.51, p