Therapeutic Alliance with Autistic Transition-Aged Youth

Therapeutic alliance is considered an established process factor that benefits treatment outcomes across the lifespan. Simultaneously, client factors, such as interpersonal relationship style and presenting diagnoses, appear to affect alliance formation. However, little is known about the relationship between alliance and outcomes in autistic transition-aged youth (TAY) or how pre-treatment client factors in this population may contribute to alliance formation. Data from an ongoing randomized control trial (RCT; n = 55, 72.7% male) were analyzed to determine whether client traits impact therapeutic alliance and whether alliance impacts outcomes in TAY. Alliance was coded from videos of therapist-client pairs participating in either a research-based transition program or an active control condition. Pre-treatment problems did not relate to therapeutic alliance, and therapeutic alliance did not impact transition-readiness or quality of life outcomes. These findings can provide insight into the use of manualized interventions and types of therapeutic practice for autistic young TAY.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Kalinyak, Alexandra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• White, Susan W.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cundiff, Jenny M.
• Snider, Laurel A.

• autism
• client traits
• Therapeutic alliance
• transition-aged youth

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

1199585

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/17604