![Sample our Behavioral Sciences journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110801/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Behavioral-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
Background
Dropout in youth psychotherapy is high, especially for ethnic minority patients. An important determinant of dropout is the quality of the therapeutic relationship. This study evaluated the association between the therapeutic relationship and dropout in therapy with ethnic minority youth.
Method
Our study was done in a community youth mental health care institution. Seventy patients were included who were dropouts or completers of psychotherapy. The therapeutic relationship was measured with an instrument (i.e., the Child version of the Session Rating Scale (C‐SRS)) that was completed each session by the patient. For each patient, the treatment termination status (dropout or completer) was indicated. A General Estimation Equation (GEE) was conducted to indicate whether the course of total C‐SRS scores during therapy differed for dropouts and completers.
Results
The course of the scores differed significantly between dropouts and completers. Both groups started with similar scores, but on average, the scores of dropouts decreased during therapy, while the scores of completers increased.
Conclusions
Our results indicate that if there is a drop in the rated quality of the therapeutic relationship (i.e., monitor the difference between the present C‐SRS score with the previous scores), the therapist should communicate this with the patient. This could lead to an improvement of the therapeutic relationship and a decrease in dropout.
Abstract
Funding: None.
Conflict of interest: None.
Funding: None.
Conflict of interest: None.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Sjouk de Boer (scientific researcher at De Jutters) and Peter van de Ven (statistician at VU University Medical Center Amsterdam) for their help with our statistical analyses. We would like to thank Maaike de van der Schueren (psychotherapist at De Jutters) for her help with checking our manuscript on the English language.
Notes
Funding: None.
Conflict of interest: None.
