Are the SOFTA instruments reliable and valid research tools?

Psychometric support for the SOFTA-o is provided by 5 reliability and validity studies, and an exploratory factor analysis with data from 120 diverse English- and Spanish-speaking couples and families. All these studies are described in detail in: Friedlander, Escudero, Horvath, Heatherington, Cabero & Martens (2006) System for Observing Family Therapy Alliances: A tool for research and practice. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 214-225.

For the SOFTA-s, the internal consistency reliability of the 16-item SOFTA-s is English = .87 (client) and .95 (therapist), Spanish = .83 (client) and .84 (therapist). Subscale reliabilities, calculated for a combined sample (Spanish and English) of 193 clients at session 3, are =.64 for Engagement, = .73 for Emotional Connection, = .64 for Safety, and = .72 for Shared Purpose.