Client views of counselor directives （指导）: A qualitative study in china

ABSTRACT

In order to understand client views of counselor’ use of directives, we conducted in-depth interviews with nine clients immediately after they completed a session at a university counseling center in China. The results, derived by using Consensus Qualitative Research (CQR), revealed that participants generally expected counselors to give directives, reported having received them, and felt good after receiving them. In addition, clients perceived some non-directive counselor interventions as being directives. Clients felt discontented when they did not receive as many directives as they wanted and when they received directives that did not fit their needs. Clients indicated that they would implement only those directives that they anticipated would have a clear benefit and would not implement those that seemed difficult to do. The results shed light on outcomes related to directives, conditions needed for directives to be implemented, mechanisms by which directives lead to positive change, and client feelings after receiving counselor directives, all within the context of the Chinese culture. One implication of the results is that training programs need to focus on training how to use directives when working with Chinese clients.

KEYWORDS:

• Therapist directives
• culture
• Chinese communication
• client perspectives

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Changming Duan

Changming Duan is a Chinese American psychologist and a professor of counseling psychology at University of Kansas (KU). Her research interests include addressing multicultural issues in counseling practice and training, understanding culturally specific counseling process and outcome, and using strength based counseling to promote psychological healing and growth for diverse people in diverse social and cultural contexts.

Clara Hill

Clara Hill, a Professor, has been President of SPR, Editor of Journal of Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy Research. Major research interests are helping skills, psychotherapy process and outcome, training and supervision, meaning in life, qualitative research, and dream work. She has published over 300 articles/chapters and 17 books.

Guangrong Jiang

Guangrong Jiang is a Chinese psychologist and a professor of clinical and counseling psychology at Central China Normal University. His research interests include Process-Outcome Research in Counseling and Psychotherapy; Chinese Public Mental Health Literacy; Psychological Autopsy Research for Suicide of College Students; Self-Injurious Behavior of Adolescents and Model of School Guidance in Chinese Middle School.

Shengnan Li

Shengnan Li, Ph.D., obtained her doctoral degree in counselling psychology from the University of Kansas. She is currently working at the University of  Iowa Counseling Service as a staff therapist providing counseling services to the college student population. Her research interests include understanding spirituality in relation to psychological well-being, college students and their identity development, counseling process and outcome research, and indigenous studies that promote culturally appropriate understanding of psychological concepts.

Xinghua Duan

Xinghua Duan is a professor in School of Marxism, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University in China. Her research interests include mental heath education and she has published a number of articles on mental health education of Chinese college students.Bo Hu is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ningbo University. His research interests are focused on the development of psychometric and general quantitative methods, as applied in the psychological, educational, and social sciences.

Fenglan Li

Fenglan Li is a professor in psychological health education at Huazhong Agriculture University in China. She received her doctoral degree in clinical and counselling psychology from Central China Normal University. Her research mainly focuses on understanding outlook on values and mental health in general. She is also closely working with college students by delivering classes on promoting mental health.

Bo Hu

Bo Hu is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ningbo University. His research interests are focused on the development of psychometric and general quantitative methods, as applied in the psychological, educational, and social sciences.

Lixia Yu

Lixia Yu is a counseling psychologist and lecturer of clinical and counseling psychology at Central China Normal University. Her research interests include Process-Outcome Research in Counseling and Psychotherapy; Self-Injurious Behavior of Adolescents and Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention.

Min Du

Min Du is an Associate professor and a Psychological consultation teacher of School of Marxism in Xidian University, Her research interests include Chinese Public Mental Health Literacy and Life education in the university.