How much training is needed for the SOFTA-o?

Good interrater reliabilities can typically be achieved in 10-15 hours of training. In selecting raters, the investigator need not choose individuals who are highly experienced clinically. Although clinical experience can facilitate the rating task, SOFTA-o does not require a great deal of clinical sophistication, and even students with little or no clinical experience can achieve good reliabilities. Good social skills are necessary, since judgments need to be made on the meaningfulness of the SOFTA-o items in context. We also recommend using both male and female raters if at all possible, inasmuch as women and men tend to see interpersonal behavior differently. To achieve good interrater reliability, we recommend selecting 6-8 practice videotapes that are representative of the investigator's final data set. Ideally, these training tapes should have few clients and good sound and video quality, as well as examples of both negative and positive Engagement, Emotional Connection, Safety, and Shared Purpose. The difficulty level should be increased gradually as raters become fluent with the task.