Using a cross-contextual qualitative diary design to explore client experiences of psychotherapy

Abstract

Qualitative research in counselling and psychotherapy has largely been based on interviews carried out with clients and therapists. However, other approaches to qualitative data collection are possible. The present paper uses a diary design to explore the connection between what goes on in therapy sessions, and client activities and experiences in other contexts. Clients and counsellors kept diaries about significant aspects of therapy sessions, while clients also kept diaries about new and different experiences in other contexts in their lives. Ethical and practical issues involved in the use of diaries are discussed, and the methods that were employed to analyse diary-based data are described. The types of findings that the study generated are presented, along with discussion of their implications for research into client experiences of therapy.

Keywords:

• Client experience
• counselling
• diaries
• ethics
• psychotherapy
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ole Dreier and John McLeod for their comments on this text.