Citation

Henshaw EJ, Wall EJ, Lourie AE. J. Am. Coll. Health 2019; ePub(ePub): 1-7.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology , Denison University , Granville , Ohio , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07448481.2019.1624292

PMID

31188075

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The study explored first-time college counseling center clients' preintake expectations of the counseling process and the extent that these expectations were related to confidence that counseling will be effective and attendance after intake. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 418 first-time counseling clients with complete intake and termination data from September 2013 to April 2016.

METHODS: New clients reported open-ended counseling expectations which were coded into three distinct categories: don't know, just talking, or beyond talking. Outcome measures include rated preintake confidence that counseling will be effective and client attendance at scheduled follow up session.

RESULTS: Regression analysis results indicate that expectations categorized as don't know were associated with lower pretreatment counseling confidence while beyond talking expectations predicted postintake attendance.

CONCLUSIONS: Simple expectations about how counseling will work are a relevant therapeutic factor to consider in improving outcomes for counseling center clients.

Language: en

Keywords

Client characteristics; common factors; counseling; counseling expectations; lay theories