Predictors of Early Termination in a University Counseling Training Clinic

✍ Scribed by Georgios K. Lampropoulos; Mercedes K. Schneider; Paul M. Spengler

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 162 KB
• Volume: 87
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1556-6678
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6678.2009.tb00547.x

✦ Synopsis

Premature or early termination of psychotherapy and counseling is a common and significant problem in clinical practice. Published estimates of dropout rates range between 30% and 60% of clients (Reis & Brown, 1999). In a meta-analysis of early termination, the average outpatient rate was 47% (Wierzbicki & Pekarik, 1993). Several studies have found up to 65% to 80% of clients will end treatment before the 10th session, a percentage that can be even higher for youth and people of color (Garfield, 1994). Reported dropout rates also vary as a function of the definition used for the term dropout (Hatchett & Park, 2003;Wierzbicki & Pekarik, 1993).

Research on predictors of early termination in a variety of clinical settings, and for a variety of therapeutic approaches and clinical populations, has yielded mixed and inconsistent results (Garfield, 1994;Reis & Brown, 1999). Methodological differences and weaknesses in such research may have contributed to the problem of mixed findings. Consistent predictors of dropout are limited to a few variables, such as racial minority and lower socioeconomic status (SES [Garfield, 1994;Reis & Brown, 1999;Wierzbicki & Pekarik, 1993]). The inconsistency of the dropout literature from a variety of settings, treatments, populations, and research methods has made the interpretation of these findings particularly difficult (Garfield, 1994;Reis & Brown, 1999). As a result, dropout research findings and their implications might be better considered as site specific and generalized to new settings only with caution. Given the near absence of dropout studies for university-based counseling training clinics (Todd, Kurcias, & Gloster, 1994), the purpose of this study was to extend this research to this type of setting.