Aim of this study The therapeutic alliance is an important effective factor in psychotherapeutic treatment. The relationship between rehabilitation satisfaction and therapeutic alliance is well documented. Work on the influence of the migration background is pending. It is examined whether the migration status has influence on the therapeutic alliance and the rehabilitation satisfaction of psychosomatic rehabilitation patients. Methods First, patients with and without a migration background are compared with regard to sociodemographic variables and symptom severity. The differences found are taken into account in a propensity score matching. The patient groups are analysed before and after matching by variance analysis for differences in rehabilitation satisfaction and therapeutic alliance. Results Patients with a migrant background were more often female, had a lower level of education and reported more severe symptoms. Patients with a migration background rated both rehabilitation satisfaction and the therapeutic alliance more negatively. However, these effects found were very small and could not be replicated after matching. Conclusion The more negative assessment of rehabilitation satisfaction and the therapeutic alliance by patients with a migration background is due to their more problematic sociodemographic and psychosomatic initial situation. If these variables are kept constant, no differences are found between the patient groups. The high correlation between therapeutic alliance and rehabilitation satisfaction underlines the importance of the therapeutic alliance for successful psychosomatic rehabilitation. © 2019 Georg Thieme Verlag. All rights reserved.

Migration Psychosomatic rehabilitation Patient satisfaction Therapeutic alliance rehabilitation

education controlled study female Analysis of Variance patient satisfaction Article Therapeutic Alliance rehabilitation patient human adult migrant propensity score