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A follow‐up study of the long‐term effects of counselling in a primary care counselling psychology service
Author(s) -
Davis Debi,
Corrin-Pendry Stephanie,
Savill Mark
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
counselling and psychotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1746-1405
pISSN - 1473-3145
DOI - 10.1080/14733140802007863
Subject(s) - primary care , distress , medicine , clinical psychology , psychological distress , primary health care , family medicine , service (business) , psychology , nursing , psychiatry , mental health , population , economy , environmental health , economics
Abstract Despite much recent work examining the short‐term effect of counselling in primary healthcare settings, to date relatively little research has examined the effectiveness of such treatment programmes over the longer term. In this study, 58 participants underwent brief, time‐limited integrative counselling sessions, with symptoms being measured using the CORE‐OM immediately before, immediately after, and 30 months after counselling. It was found that in addition to participants reporting significantly lower levels of psychological distress immediately post‐counselling, a further significant improvement at 30‐month follow‐up was also apparent, indicating that the benefit from counselling was maintained. In addition to this reduction in symptoms post‐counselling, a significant reduction in GP visits was also detected in the 12 months following counselling when compared with the 12 months prior to counselling, indicating a lower reliance on the primary healthcare team after counselling.