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Abstract
Background: Walk-in counselling has been used to reduce wait times but there are few controlled studies to compare outcomes between walk-in and the traditional model of service delivery.
Aims: To compare change in psychological distress by clients receiving services from two models of service delivery, a walk-in counselling model and a traditional counselling model involving a wait list.
Method: Mixed-methods sequential explanatory design including quantitative comparison of groups with one pre-test and two follow-ups, and qualitative analysis of interviews with a sub-sample. Five-hundred and twenty-four participants ≥16 years were recruited from two Family Counselling Agencies; the General Health Questionnaire-12 assessed change in psychological distress.
Results: Hierarchical linear modelling revealed clients of the walk-in model improved faster and were less distressed at the four-week follow-up compared to the traditional service delivery model. Ten weeks later, both groups had improved and were similar. Participants receiving instrumental services prior to baseline improved more slowly. The qualitative data confirmed participants highly valued the accessibility of the walk-in model, and were frustrated by the lengthy waits associated with the traditional model.
Conclusions: This study improves methodologically on previous studies of walk-in counselling, an approach to service delivery not conducive to randomized controlled trials.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Notes
* The study was conducted at KW Counselling Services, Kitchener, Ontario and Family Service Thames Valley, London, Ontario.