Client Expectations About Couple Therapy

Abstract

Little is known about the role of expectations in couple therapy. This manuscript provides the results of a qualitative inquiry into client expectations about couple therapy. Participants were 26 individuals representing 13 couples in couple therapy. Participants participated in semi-structured interviews four times: before the first, and after the second, third, and fourth sessions of therapy. Results of a discovery-focused qualitative content analysis of interview data suggested that participants formed pre-therapy expectations about their therapist, the therapy process, and the outcome of therapy. Expectations were generally stable over time, with most participants experiencing the confirmation of their expectations.