Alliance With an Unguided Smartphone App: Validation of the Digital Working Alliance Inventory
Assessment May 18, 2021 Simon B. Goldberg, Scott A. Baldwin, Kevin M. Riordan et al. 73 citations
A six-item Digital Working Alliance Inventory (DWAI) measuring the working alliance in unguided smartphone-based interventions shows good psychometric properties. In a cross-sectional survey of 290 meditation app users and the intervention arm of a randomized trial with 314 participants, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a single-factor structure. The DWAI demonstrated adequate internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and discriminant validity (no association with social desirability, psychological distress, or preference for a waitlist condition). Convergent validity was supported by positive associations with perceived app effectiveness and preference for an app condition. DWAI scores positively predicted self-reported and objective app utilization. When assessed at Weeks 3 or 4, but not earlier, DWAI scores predicted pre-post reductions in psychological distress.