Hong Kong and Western people have different expectations of counselling: a Hong Kong study of the Expectations about Counselling – Brief Form

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to provide an overview of Hong Kong Chinese clients’ expectations towards counselling and to test whether the EAC-B (Expectations about Counselling-Brief Form) three-factor structure established in the West can be applied in a Chinese Hong Kong population. Three hundred and three Hong Kong Chinese undergraduate students, who were going to receive counselling, completed the traditional Chinese version of the EAC-B. Confirmatory factor analyses indicate that the original EAC-B factor model, which is made up of Personal Commitment, Facilitative Conditions, and Counsellor Expertise, can be replicated and applied among Hong Kong Chinese university students. They demonstrate, furthermore, that a more parsimonious three-factor model can be created using nine of the 17 EAC-B subscales.

KEYWORDS:

• Client involvement
• confirmatory factor analysis
• directive counselling
• expectations about counselling
• Hong Kong Chinese

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claire Bernadette Young

Ms. Claire Bernadette Young is studying her doctorate in counselling psychology at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Her ongoing research concerns transnational caregiving.

Calvin Kai-Ching Yu

Prof. Calvin Kai-Ching Yu is currently working as Professor of the Counselling and Psychology Department and Co-Director of the Counselling and Research Centre at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. His major research interests lie in the areas of dreaming, counselling, consciousness, neuropsychological assessments, and psychoanalytic and neuroscientific models of the mind.