What are the clinical applications of the SOFTA?

The SOFTA-o is valuable for the training and supervision of novice family therapists, as well as for the analysis of difficult cases seen by expert therapists. Using the behavioral descriptors within each dimension, a therapist or supervisor can analyze the strength of the therapeutic alliance in one session or across sessions. The analysis can be focused on one or more alliance dimensions, on one member of the family, or on the family as a group. With the e-SOFTA (the software application), the observer can create a file with qualitative notes, automatically arranged in chronological order by the program to accompany each behavioral descriptor as it is detected and marked. In this way, the SOFTA-o can be a useful aid in training, supervision, and self-supervision.