A Cross-National Study of Therapists’ Perceptions and Experiences Of Premature Dropout From Therapy

ABSTRACT

In this preliminary report, we explore therapists’ perceptions and experiences of dropout. In total, 199 therapists from the United States, Colombia, India, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, and China completed an online survey (translated into their native language) on dropout from therapy that included both quantitative and qualitative questions. The findings suggest cultural differences in factors related to dropout between therapists in the United States and therapists in the other six more collectivistic countries. Participants also shared their experiences and perspectives concerning encouraging treatment engagement and re-engaging dropouts. We discuss the clinical implications of our findings for different cultural contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture
• dropout
• family therapy
• treatment engagement
• treatment re-engagement

Funding

We would like to acknowledge support for this project from the Niles Small Grant Program from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Notes

¹ For ease of reference, hereafter “dropout” refers to a client’s premature dropout from treatment, and “dropouts” refers to clients who discontinue treatment prematurely.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to acknowledge support for this project from the Niles Small Grant Program from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.