Comparison of Client and Counsellor Satisfaction with Treatment Duration

Abstract

After termination of personal counselling at a large urban Canadian university, 72 subjects and their counsellors were asked to rate their satisfaction. The subjects were asked to rate to what extent the counselling had helped with the presenting problem, and with other secondary problems, and to rate their degree of overall satisfaction. Statistical analyses conducted to investigate the relationship among number of sessions attended and client and counsellor satisfaction, led to these results: clients who attended a brief number of sessions (1-3) reported no significant difference in satisfaction with the counselling compared to those who attended more sessions; and the majority of clients who had only one session were satisfied with their counselling; counsellors, however, were less satisfied overall with the briefer counselling process, and the author suggests that they were biased against it. The author recommends more research on this critical topic of counsellor expectations toward briefer treatment.