ASSERTION THERAPY - SKILL TRAINING OR COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING

Seventy-nine women participated in a program designed to compare assertion therapy based on a skill-deficit model with a procedure based on a response inhibition model. Participants were assigned randomly to one of five treatment groups: behavior rehearsal, systematic rational restructuring, behavior rehearsal/rational restructuring, relationship, and waiting list controls and were also assigned to a male or female therapist. Treatment was carried out at two separate locations resulting in a 2×2×5 factorial design. Results indicate that the combined behavior rehearsal/rational restructuring therapy was superior; there were few differences among the four contact groups on self-report measures; on both a role-play test and a contrived situational test all three behavioral treatments were equally successful at facilitating women to make a response whereas treatments employing behavior rehearsal were more effective in improving the assertion quality of the response. At follow-up all treatment groups typically maintained or improved on their gains, but failed to differ from each other on a self-report battery. No effect for sex of therapist was obtained. Results were the same at both locations indicating generalizability of results across more than one research setting. © 1979 Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy.