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Table 5 Directed content analysis of the defining characteristics of therapeutic alliance

From: Conceptualizing patient-centered care for substance use disorder treatment: findings from a systematic scoping review

Defining Characteristics a

Representative Example of Content Coded

Non-judgmental, respectful and accepting (n = 37) b

“A major theme discussed by patients was the importance of building supportive relationships. Patients expressed a desire to work with staff who possessed qualities such as empathy, understanding, trust, respect and expertise and described feeling accepted in these relationships. Patients who perceived staff to be nonjudgmental in their approach described that this reduced their feelings of shame.” [51]

Empathy, understanding, warmth, kindness, supportive (n = 32) c

“The nurse engages in caring relationships with patients with the purpose of helping them to handle a complex and intricate health problem in a dignified manner, acknowledging the therapeutic effects of feeling being understood as a patient.” [43]

  1. aA total of 109 references defined therapeutic alliance. Coded categories were not mutually exclusive such that a reference might have defined the principle of patient-centered care at more than one category. Bracketed numbers represent the number of unique references coded at each category
  2. bReferences coded at this category [45, 48, 51, 57, 59, 61,62,63,64,65,66, 71, 76, 77, 79, 83, 89, 91, 93, 94, 96, 99, 103, 104, 118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128]
  3. cReferences coded at this category [41, 43, 45, 48, 51, 57, 61, 63,64,65,66, 71, 74, 89,90,91, 96, 103, 118,119,120,121, 123, 125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132]