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Encouraging homework completion among older adults in therapy
Author(s) -
Coon David W.,
GallagherThompson Dolores
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.10032
Subject(s) - psychology , commit , distress , session (web analytics) , psychotherapist , emotional distress , variety (cybernetics) , clinical psychology , cognition , psychiatry , anxiety , computer science , database , artificial intelligence , world wide web
A growing body of research suggests that homework assignments facilitate positive outcomes in psychotherapy. We describe a cognitive behavioral outpatient therapy that stresses the important role homework plays in psychotherapy outcomes and that is found to be successful for treating emotional distress in both older adults and family caregivers. Just as a number of barriers can make it difficult for older clients to commit to regular therapy appointments, a variety of factors can also influence their completion of homework. We also address key issues frequently encountered when fostering homework compliance among older adults and utilize case vignettes to illustrate successful approaches to address these barriers. We present basic tenets for effective homework completion regardless of age group as well as several methods to address homework challenges that we find to be particularly pertinent for therapists treating today's older adults. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 58: 549–563, 2002.