Kan relationer fördjupas genom bemötandeträning? En utvärdering av en helgkurs i autentiskt relaterande [Can relationships be deepened through responsiveness training? An evaluation of a weekend course in authentic relating]

A psychologist-programme degree thesis evaluating four runs of a Swedish introductory Authentic Relating weekend. At the start and end of the weekend, participants rated an assigned practice partner, a fellow participant they had just met, on responsiveness, bond, closeness and relationship quality. Every measure except negative relationship quality rose, with large effects. Ratings of an existing close friend, taken a week before and two to four weeks after, showed no significant change.

Without a control group, the gains can’t be attributed to the Authentic Relating content rather than group cohesion or expectation, and closeness to someone met minutes earlier has little room to fall. It is the only quantitative evaluation of an Authentic Relating course we have been able to read. The authors cite one earlier master’s thesis (Frénay, 2020) that we haven’t found.