Browsing by Author "Alamo, Nicolle"

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    "How it is said": Analyses of WhatsApp communications in a postpartum depression preventive intervention
    (2024) Fernandez, Olga; Perez, J. Carola; Alamo, Nicolle; Fernandez, Sofia; Franco, Pamela; Coo, Soledad; Garcia, M. Ignacia; Aravena, Marcela
    Introduction: "m-What Were We Thinking" (m-WWWT) is an m-health, intervention oriented to prevent symptoms of postpartum depression and anxiety in first-time mothers. Mothers receive psychoeducation and socioemotional support through written communication via text-messaging (i.e., WhatsApp) with the program counsellor. Although the use of m-health interventions targeting mental health has increased, the form/style of communication through text messages between participants and program counsellors has been understudied. Objective: The aim was to describe the formal structure of the communication (Basic Forms) and the communicational intentions (Communicative Intentions) used in the messages sent by the counsellor and to determine if these are related to the post-intervention outcomes. Methods: 438 text messages sent by the counsellor to 53 first-time mothers (M = 25.32 years, SD = 4.23) who participated in the m-WWWT intervention were analyzed. The Therapeutic Activity Coding System was used to capture the communication as a "Communicative Action". Results: The study highlighted the counsellor's frequent use of the "assertion" communicative form (82%) and attuned communicative intentions (52%) and explored (39%) in her messages. The attractors of communication were "assert to attune" and "assert to explore", indicating an empathetic and informative communication style. With respect to their relationship with the intervention outcome, only "assert to explore" messages were positively related to maternal self-efficacy increases. The number of messages was not associated with participants' characteristics at baseline, except for educational level. Discussion: Our results show the relevance of combining the delivery of information with a communication style that allows the counsellor to connect with the specific needs and emotional tone of the participants.
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    Qualitative Analysis of Drawings of the Process of Psychotherapeutic Change: Proposal to Promote the Participation of Children in the Research Context
    (Springer, Cham, 2025) Alamo, Nicolle; Núñez, Lucía
    Drawings constitute an innovative and developmentally sensitive methodology for the participation of children in psychotherapy research. However, their analysis in this context is less developed. A tradition of projective analysis has prevailed, based on the interpretation made by the adult world, which distances from the objective of delving into the children’s narrative. The aim of this chapter is to delve into a proposal for qualitative analysis of drawings of the therapeutic change process in the context of child psychotherapy research, focused on the narrative intention of the children. For this purpose, the “Qualitative Analysis Guideline for Drawings of Therapeutic Change Process” developed by the authors is presented, and its use is exemplified through the analysis of the drawing “how I was before/how I am after psychotherapy” of a 6-year-8-month-old girl after completing her treatment. Other possible uses of the Guideline used in research developed by the authors are also presented. It is concluded that the proposed analysis Guideline allows for a detailed exploration of the visual and verbal narrative of the drawings in the context of psychotherapy research while facilitating the systematic analysis of its content, highlighting the subjective experiences of therapeutic change in children. Finally, the benefits of using the drawing analysis guideline adjusted to the research context are discussed, as it facilitates the study of the contents in an organized, systematic, and replicable manner, thereby supporting the future development and refinement of this methodology. The objective of promoting and highlighting the narrative intention and subjective experience of the children is also achieved, representing an advance in participatory research with this population.
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    WHAT DO THEY SAY IT AND HOW DO THEY SAY IT? ANALYSIS OF PATIENT'S AND THERAPIST'S VERBAL COMMUNICATION DURING CHANGE EPISADES
    (FUNDACION AIGLE, 2011) Valdes, Nelson; Krause, Marione; Alamo, Nicolle
    Considering a notion of performative language, we assume that during the therapeutic conversation, both patient and therapist, are "doing something" while they are "saying something" (Reyes et al., 2008). There is also support to conclude that the physical and mental health is correlated with the type of words used during the conversation (Chung & Pennebaker, 2007; Slatcher, Vazire, & Pennebaker, 2008), which is a reflection of the way their psychological processes are structured. Using a mixed methodology, this article focused on the study of the verbal interaction between patient and therapist, showing some differences and similarities in the Communicative Actions and the Linguistic Style of both speakers, during the therapeutic conversation within Change Episodes. These differences show their complementary roles in psychotherapy.