The adaptation of the Innovative Moments Coding System to the group intervention: a preliminary study

Aims. The Innovative Moment Coding System (IMCS; Gonçalves et al., 2011) is a reliable and valid method originally developed to track markers of change in individual psychotherapy. Based on the few studies which used the IMCS to study change in group intervention (Esposito et al., 2017; Garcia-Martìnez et al., 2020), this methodological study proposes an adaptation of the IMCS to track innovative moments in groups. Method. The transcripts of twenty-seven sessions of three counseling groups (9 sessions for each group) addressed to underachieving university students were analyzed with the IMCS by two reliable coders. Two groups (N=7; N=6) were selected as they presented the highest and the lowest frequency of the original Individual IMs (e.g. change was expressed by a single participant) and enough group IMs (e.g. change was co-constructed by more than one participants) to be used as a case demonstration. The agreement and the reliability (Cohen’s kappa) for Individual and Group IMs were calculated. Results. Results showed a strong agreement, both for Individual (88%; 95.10%) and Group IMs (90%; 92.12%), and a high reliability (Individual: 0.86 and 0.90; Group: 0.89 and 0.94) for IMs levels. A new category of Group (Voice of Group) and Individual IMs (Mirror-IM) emerged. Group IMs were identified in both groups but with a different frequency in Group 1 (42 vs. 20). Despite no differences emerged among IMs levels, in Group 1 all the members were involved in the innovative interactions. Conclusions. Group IMs can be reliably identified for studying change in group treatments.