Marriage and family therapy scholars have argued that therapists play a crucial role in successful couple therapy, yet little research has empirically documented that the therapist in couple therapy has a significant impact on outcomes. Known as the study of therapist effects, this study sought to assess the amount of variance attributed to the therapist in couple therapy outcomes. Using dropout as the outcome variable, this study analyzed data from 1,192 couples treated by 90 masters and doctoral student therapists at a university‐based training clinic. Results from multilevel analysis indicated that therapists in the sample accounted for 9.4% of the variance in couple dropout while controlling for initial couple impairment. Therapist gender and therapist experience did not significantly predict variability in therapist effects. These findings give promise to future research on therapist effects in couple therapy and encourage exploration into which therapist characteristics and behaviors contribute to successful clinical outcome.

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治疗师对夫妻治疗中辍学的影响

婚姻和家庭治疗学者认为治疗师在成功的夫妻治疗中起着至关重要的作用，但很少有研究凭经验证明夫妻治疗中的治疗师对结果有重大影响。这项研究被称为治疗师效果研究，旨在评估归因于治疗师在夫妻治疗结果中的差异量。本研究使用辍学作为结果变量，分析了在大学培训诊所接受 90 名硕士和博士生治疗师治疗的 1,192 对夫妇的数据。多层次分析的结果表明，样本中的治疗师在控制初始夫妻损伤的同时，占夫妻辍学方差的 9.4%。治疗师性别和治疗师经验并未显着预测治疗师效果的可变性。