Does Counseling Format Play a Role in Client Retention?

Abstract

A review of 2 years of client data from a community-based Canadian addiction agency working with voluntary clients revealed that 124 of 173 (71.7%) individuals had discontinued service. The standardized Ontario addiction assessment protocol, which includes client input, was used to match voluntary clients to either individual or group counseling. Clients matched to group counseling were twice as likely to complete treatment than were those receiving only individual counseling. Men were more likely to discontinue counseling prior to the completion of the treatment contract than were women; however, men were less likely to drop out of group counseling than they were to drop out of individual counseling. No statistically significant difference was found between counseling format and counseling completion among female clients.

KEYWORDS:

• client retention
• dropout
• group counseling
• individual counseling