The Predictive Relationship Between Attachment Orientation and Physical Therapists’ Therapeutic Alliance

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational-predictive study was to determine if, or to what extent, attachment orientation predicts physical therapists’ therapeutic alliance in outpatient physical therapy in the United States. Specifically, to what extent, if any, do the two attachment orientation subscales (anxious, avoidant) collectively and/or individually predict physical therapists’ therapeutic alliance in outpatient physical therapy? The present study was built upon two theoretical foundations: attachment theory and therapeutic alliance. Convenience sampling was used to recruit study participants. A total of 134 outpatient physical therapists completed an online survey to determine their attachment orientation and their perception of the therapeutic alliance with their patients. A simple linear regression was used to determine the predictive relationship between the criterion variable, therapeutic alliance, and two predictor variables, attachment orientation avoidant (Av) and anxious (Ax). From the study’s findings the null hypothesis was rejected, and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. The regression model consisting of Av and Ax as a set of predictors of physical therapists’ therapeutic alliance was significant F(2, 131) = 7.33, p < .001 and accounted for greater than 10.1% of the variation in outpatient physical therapists’ therapeutic alliance. Moreover, when partialling out the influence of each of the predictor variables, only Ax significantly negatively predicted therapeutic alliance (B = -.045, s.e. = 0.15, p = .003). The results provide evidence upon which practitioners may consider the influence of their own attachment orientation in their practice and inspire future researchers to continue exploring the role attachment orientation plays in physical therapy.