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Negative Aspects of Therapy: Client Perceptions of Therapists' Social Influence, Burnout, and Quality of Care
Author(s) -
McCarthy Wanda C.,
Frieze Irene Hanson
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/0022-4537.00103
Subject(s) - burnout , psychology , compromise , perception , quality (philosophy) , scale (ratio) , reputation , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , social science , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , sociology
This study investigated the relationships between client perceptions of therapist use of social influence strategies, therapist burnout, and clients' perceptions of the quality of their therapy. Scales were developed to measure personal coercive power, personal reward power, various forms of expert power, and compromise strategies. A scale was also developed to measure clients' perceptions of their therapists' burnout that contained a combination of modified items from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1986) and original items based on stereotypical burnout behaviors. Research participants were 131 undergraduate students at the University of Pittsburgh who reported their experiences as therapy clients. Therapist use of personal coercive influence strategies and certain types of expert influence strategies were negatively associated with clients' perceptions of the quality of their therapy. Therapist use of personal reward influence strategies, compromise, and the therapist's reputation as an expert were positively related to clients' perceptions of the quality of their therapy. Perceived therapist burnout was positively associated with therapist use of personal coercive influence strategies, direct expert influence strategies, and indirect expert influence strategies. The implications of these findings are discussed.