The Relationship of Client Stages of Change to Working Alliance and Outcome in Short-Term Counseling

✍ Scribed by Aaron B. Rochlen; Stephanie S. Rude; Augustine Barón

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 83 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1099-0399
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-1882.2005.tb00072.x

✦ Synopsis

This study evaluated the relationship of J. O. transtheoretical model of change with the process and outcome of short-term counseling in college help seekers. Participants completed measures of readiness to change, psychological symptoms, and working alliance. Clients in the precontemplation stage evaluated the working alliance less favorably and experienced less improvement regarding symptoms than clients in other stages. Counselor working alliance did not differ as a function of clients' stage of change.

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or more than 20 years, research generated from the transtheoretical stages of change model ) has provided clinicians with empirically supported suggestions for how to work with different types of clients. The model assumes that clients occupy different levels of readiness to identify and address problems in their lives. Although several versions of the model have been outlined , the most common conceptualization includes four stages: precontemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance. Each stage "represents specific constellations of attitudes, intentions, and/or behaviors that are relevant to an individual's status in the process of change" (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1992, p. 300). Clients further along in the stage model have been described as more likely to benefit from therapeutic interventions .

Consistent with early theoretical formulations, the majority of research to date on the stages of change model has focused on its relevance to behavioral concerns, including smoking cessation (DiClemente,