The effects of client and therapist variables on therapeutic modality selection: Family vs. individual therapy.

Abstract

The study set out to examine the effect of therapist's orientation on his or her recommendations for individual or family based therapy. Other factors thought to influence the decision reached (i.e. experience, coursework, location of practice, perceived competency) were also explored. Seventy psychologists in the mental health field were presented with six clinical vignettes. The vignettes contained diagnoses or presenting problems that indicated either individual or family therapy, or contained insufficient information to clearly lead to a modality selection. It was found that the case vignette was the only significant variable affecting the modality or goals of the treatment recommendation. Biases in decision making among psychologists, based on orientation and areas of relative competence, were expected but not found. However, orientation did significantly affect the number of sessions recommended, with psychodynamic therapists recommending more therapy sessions than therapists from the other therapeutic orientations.