Opinion

Translation of the Inventory of Therapeutic Presence (IPT) for Argentine population

Rodríguez de Behrends M* and García Rossi M

Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Submission: April 12, 2021; Published: May 07, 2021

*Corresponding author: Dr. Marisa Rodríguez de Behrends, Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

How to cite this article:Rodríguez d B M, García R M. Translation of the Inventory of Therapeutic Presence (IPT) for Argentine population. Psychol Behav Sci Int J .2021; 16(5): 555949. DOI: 10.19080/PBSIJ.2019.10.555949.

Keywords:Therapeutic Presence; Therapists; Likert scale; Translation; Psychologist expert; Psychology inventories; Psychiatrists

Opinion

Therapeutic Presence is a way of being with client that optimizes the doing of therapy” [1]. It involves therapists bringing their whole self to the encounter and being fully in the moment on multiple levels: physically, emotionally, cognitively, relationally and spiritually [1-3]. Being fully present helps therapists to attune to their own experience as well as their clients’ experience [1,4]. Therapeutic Presence invites clients to feel felt, met and understood, as well as safe enough to become present within their own experience allowing deeper therapeutic work to occur [1,3]. Therapeutic Presence is a necessary precondition to being empathic and sustaining a positive therapeutic relationship while at the same time it acts as a positive predictor for the therapeutic alliance [5,6].

A qualitative study in which seven experienced therapists were interviewed about their experiences of presence resulted in a model of therapeutic presence that consists of three overarching categories: Therapists’ preparation for presence, the process of therapeutic presence, and experience of therapeutic presence [7].

A later study involved the development of a measure of therapeutic presence, the therapeutic presence inventory (IPT), which was based on the model presented above [5,8]. Two versions of the IPT were created: one from the therapist’s perspective and the second one from the clients’ perception of their therapists’ presence. The IPT (therapist version) is a 21-item inventory, below each item is a 7-point Likert scale. This inventory reflects the last two categories of the previously exposed model (process and experience).

In 2019, the linguistic and cultural translation of the Inventory of Therapeutic Presence (IPT) in the Argentine population was carried out through the back-translation method. As a first step, three experts in the field translated each item of the scale from the original language (English) to the target language (Spanish). It was a necessary condition that the translators were both native Spanish speakers and had an advanced level of English. In this first phase of the translation, it was recommended to emphasize conceptual translations rather than literal translations, and to use appropriate language so that it could be understood by the people surveyed. In a second instance, the aforementioned translators together with another psychologist expert in test construction and adaptation reviewed the first translation to judge the syntactic and semantic equivalence of the instrument. The last step involved a group of three independent translators (i.e. different from the previous ones) who translated the inventory back to the original language (English). In this instance of the translation process, it was again a necessary condition that the translators were native English speakers and had experience in the design and construction of psychology inventories. It was also suggested that conceptual, cultural and linguistic equivalence be considered in order to achieve a successful translation. The linguistic and cultural adaptation of the IPT culminated when the differences between the two tests were revised until a satisfactory and consistent version was reached. The entire translation process was supervised by the researcher with expertise in psychometrics, Richaud de Minzi. A pilot test was administered to 30 clinical psychologists residing in Buenos Aires City and Greater Buenos Aires (Argentina) in order to check the linguistic comprehension of the IPT’s instructions and items adapted to the Argentine population. Once it was found satisfactory, the inventory was administered to 252 clinical psychologists and psychiatrists in Buenos Aires City and Greater Buenos Aires [9-11].

References

1. Geller SM (2017) A guide to cultivating therapeutic presence. APA Publications.
2. Geller SM, Greenberg LS (2012) Therapeutic Presence: A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapy. APA Publications.
3. Geller SM, Porge SW (2014) Therapeutic Presence: Neurophysiological Mechanisms Mediating Feeling Safe in Therapeutic Relationships. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration 24(3): 178-192.
4. Geller SM (2020) Cultivating Therapeutic Presence: Strengthening Your Clinical Heart, Mind, and Practice. Transformance: The AEDP Journal 10(1): 1-17.
5. Geller SM, Greenberg LS, Watson JC (2010) Therapist and client perceptions of therapeutic presence: The development of a measure. Psychotherapy Research 20(5): 599-610.
6. Pos A, Geller S, Oghene J (2011) Therapist presence, empathy, and the working alliance in experiential treatment for depression. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Bern, Switzerland.
7. Geller SM, Greenberg LS (2002) Therapeutic presence: Therapists’ experience of presence in the psychotherapeutic encounter. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies 1: 71-86.
8. Geller SM (2001) Therapists’ presence: The development of a model and a measure. Doctorate thesis, University of York, England.
9. Garcia Rossi ML, Behrends M (2020) Traducción del Inventario de Presencia Terapéutica -Therapeutic Presence Inventory- para población argentina. XII Congreso Internacional de Investigación y Práctica Profesional en Psicologí XXVII Jornadas de Investigación. XVI Encuentro de Investigadores en Psicología del MERCOSUR. II Encuentro de Investigación de Terapia Ocupacional. II Encuentro de Musicoterapia. Facultad de Psicología - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
10. Geller SM (2013) Therapeutic presence as a foundation for relational depth. In: R Knox, D Murphy, S Wiggins, M Cooper (Ed.): Relational depth: New perspectives and developments. Palgrave Macmillan, United Kingdom pp.175-184.
11. Geller SM (2018) Therapeutic Presence and Polyvagal Theory: Principles and Practices for Cultivating Effective Therapeutic Relationships. In: SW Porges, DA Dana (Eds.): Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies. WW Norton & Co, United States pp.106-126.