The CAPPC team presented a poster at APA’s Annual Convention in Seattle, Washington. The poster entitled Proof of Concept: Can Face Reader be Used to Study Positive Emotion in Psychotherapy & Supervision? summarized a multiple N of 1 investigation that aimed to determine whether a non-invasive facial expression recognition software, FaceReader, is a valid tool for measuring PE in response to two PPT interventions (PPIs) in eight researcher-participant interactions.
Poster Authors: Heidi Zetzer, Elana Hubert, Himadhari Sharma, Anabel Salimian, Cassidy Miller, Ash Phomassa, Priya Bhatia, Cydney Williams, & Margaret Boyer
Poster Abstract: Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) aims to increase clients’ capacities to flourish (Rashid & Seligman, 2018). PPT is grounded in Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory (B&B; 2001), which posits that increasing positive emotion (PE) broadens clients’ thought-action repertoires and builds resources. Positive supervision (PS) draws on B&B by encouraging supervisors to foster PE by capitalizing on trainee strengths (Wade et al., 2015). Identifying valid measures of PE would enable researchers to test the relationship between PE and PPT or PS outcomes and lead to strategies for improving both practices.
The purpose of this multiple N of 1 investigation was to determine whether a non-invasive facial expression recognition software, FaceReader (FR; Noldus, 2022), is a valid tool for measuring PE in response to two PPT interventions (PPIs) in eight researcher-participant interactions. We measured changes in PE using FR across three intervals: Warm-up, Intervention, and Debrief using one of two PPIs: 1) Three Good Things (Emmons & Stern 2013), and 2) Capitalization (Gable & Reis, 2010). We measured pre-post changes in PE using the PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1994) and SWL (Diener, 1984) and tested the robustness of the PPIs. We transcribed and coded the interactions using Braun & Clarke’s (2006) Thematic Analysis (TA). Our goal was to evaluate the consistency between FR data and: a) pre-post measures of PE and b) qualitative analyses of interviews.
FR detected elevations in PE in two of four Gratitude participants and three of four Capitalization participants post PPI. Across both PPIs, the affective valence was positive over all three intervals with a decrease during debriefing. Arousal levels decreased, too. Pre-post analyses showed no significant changes in PE and significant improvement in SWL. FR results did not mirror the PANAS-X, but were consistent with our TA. Emerging themes included feelings of happiness, pride, and gratitude in response to the PPIs.