The Session Reactions Scale-3 (SRS-3) is designed to capture clients' immediate reactions to psychotherapy sessions (sometimes also referred to as session impacts). The scale was designed so that the items capture a variety of reactions that clients themselves perceive as significant, either in a positive or negative sense. The scale follows the tradition of qualitative research on client reactions and is based on the Session Impacts Scale and Revised Session Reactions Scale developed by Robert Elliott.

Versions

The scale is available in two versions: the full 34-item version (SRS-3) and the brief 14-item version (SRS-3-B). The short version is suitable for use in general practice, while the full version is intended primarily for research purposes. Please note that the brief version is not simply a selection of items from the full version, but also includes new (composite) items.

Administration

It is recommended that the scale be administered either immediately after the session (or directly within the session as part of the reflection) or with a slight delay within the same day. It is important to consider that clients tend to be more critical in their evaluation of the session when they answer the measure in the absence of the therapist.

Scoring

The scale can be scored in three ways:

1. work with the individual items and treat them as qualitatively distinct types of session reactions,
2. calculate the scores for two subscales: helpful and hindering reactions,
3. calculate the total score of the overall helpfulness or perceived quality of the therapy session (items for hindering reactions have to be reversed).

Conditions of use

The scale can be used free of charge. It may not be modified in any way without the author's consent. It can also be administered electronically, provided that the electronic version corresponds as closely as possible to the printed version.

Available translations

English (en/US): full version (SRS-3) / brief version (SRS-3-B)

English (en/AU): full version (SRS-3) / brief version (SRS-3-B)

Czech (cs/CZ): full version (SRS-3) / brief version (SRS-3-B)

Slovak (sk/SK): brief version (SRS-3-B)

Requirements for translations

If you want to create a translation into another language, please contact the author of the questionnaire (Tomáš Řiháček) first. The translation needs to be done in accordance with good practice guidelines. We consider the following steps as a bare minimum:

1. Obtaining the author's consent
2. Producing at least five independent translations (with at least one psychotherapist, one client, and one professional translator on the translation team)
3. Consolidation of the independent translations in a team of at least three people (not necessarily the translators engaged in Step 2)
4. Pilot validation with 5 to 10 psychotherapy clients including cognitive interviewing (to see if the items are well understood)
5. Back-translation by a bilingual person who did not participate in the previous steps
6. Proofreading of the final version

The authors of the translation will remain responsible for communicating with the author of the scale and informing him of the psychometric studies conducted on the language version.

References

Řiháček, T., Elliott, R., Owen, J., Ladmanová, M., Coleman, J. J., & Bugatti, M. (2024). Session Reactions Scale-3: Initial psychometric evidence. Psychotherapy Research, 34(4), 434–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2023.2241983