PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS
PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS
PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS
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Summary. In summary, all three of the reviewed studies found differences in the<br />
usage of helping skills across thirds of intake sessions (Hill, 1978; Lonborg et al., 1991;<br />
Tryon, 2003). Information increased across thirds of intake sessions for all three studies.<br />
Closed questions decreased as the intake sessions progressed for two of the studies (Hill,<br />
1978, Tryon, 2003); the third study (Lonborg et al., 1991) did not examine closed<br />
questions. In the study that examined helping skills in relation to engagement, client<br />
return for therapy after intake was related to a decrease in the number of closed questions<br />
from the therapist as the intake session progressed and an increase in the number of<br />
information-giving statements across thirds of the intake (Tryon, 2003). In addition,<br />
client return was related to therapist giving higher amounts of information and fewer<br />
minimal encouragers during the intake session (Tryon, 2003). Limitations of the existing<br />
research on helping skills used across thirds of intake sessions include: only a few studies<br />
have examined helping skills in thirds of intake sessions, all of the reviewed studies had<br />
small samples of clients and therapists, and thus far the studies have only been conducted<br />
in university counseling centers (except Lonborg et al., 1991, in which volunteer clients<br />
were used). Limitations of the literature also include that only one study thus far has<br />
examined helping skills in relation to dropout. Furthermore, this one study that does<br />
investigate therapist verbal behavior in intake sessions has its own limitations: the sample<br />
of therapists was very small since only one therapist (a 38 year-old Caucasian female<br />
clinical psychologist with 5 years of post-Ph.D therapy experience, who had a<br />
psychodynamic theoretical orientation) participated in the study, the client sample<br />
consisted of only 11 university student clients (seven undergraduates, four graduate<br />
students) at a large private eastern university, the setting of the study was a short-term<br />
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