| dc.description.abstract | Consistently high rates of premature termination from counselling concern
the providers and researchers of psychotherapy. In this thesis three variables were
explored for a better understanding of premature termination. Social support,
therapist qualities, and client demographics were hypothesized to impact on how
long clients would remain in therapy. Thirty participants were placed in one of
three groups, late terminators (LT), early terminators (ET) or remainers (R). Levels
of perceived social support were assessed by the Social Support - Behaviors
questionnaire, therapist and counsellor characteristics by the Counselor Evaluation
Inventory and the Counselor Rating Form - Short. Demographics and clients'
perceptions were obtained on a brief form included with the questionnaires. Social
support was not found to be related to attrition rates which is in conflict with
previous research. Age, sex and number of children were found to be somewhat
related to termination, the results did not, however, meet the criteria for
significance. Counsellor experience, attractiveness and trustworthiness were, to
some extent, linked to length of stay in therapy. With regard to premature
termination, some differences were noted in favour of the R group but they were
not large and on some varibles the ET, LT and R groups did not differ. Further
studies should make the distinction between early and late terminators as some
differences do appear to exist between these two groups of premature terminators. | |
