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Potential clients' beliefs about the relative competency and caring of psychologists: Implications for the profession
Author(s) -
Bremer Barbara A.,
Foxx Richard M.,
Lee Midge,
Lykins Dana,
Mintz Venus R.,
Stine Emily
Publication year - 2001
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.1111
Subject(s) - psychology , competence (human resources) , population , clinical psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , medicine , environmental health
To assess the extent to which the results reported by Warner and Bradley (1991) can be generalized beyond the population of undergraduate psychology students, 132 adults in the metropolitan Harrisburg area were asked to evaluate the competency and traits of clinical psychologists, licensed professional counselors, and psychiatrists. Results indicated that the general public believed counselors to be more caring than psychologists and psychiatrists. All three professional groups were perceived to be comparable in their ability to treat the least severe disorders. Licensed counselors were perceived to be most competent to treat disorders rated by the subjects as moderately severe, comparable in competence to clinical psychologists for adjustment disorders, and comparable to psychiatrists for marital problems. Psychiatrists and psychologists were considered the most competent to treat the most severe disorder, major depression. The results indicate that while clinical psychologists often were viewed as competent, they were not viewed as the single practitioner of choice for any diagnostic classification, nor were they noted to have positive character traits. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 1479–1488, 2001.