Therapists prophesy

✍ Scribed by Paul J. Martin; Joseph E. Moore; Arthur L. Sterne; Ruth M. McNairy

• Book ID: 102675507
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 796 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(197704)33:2<502::aid-jclp2270330237>3.0.co;2-b

✦ Synopsis

Therapists' expectancies for therapeutic gain in patients reputedly are linked to t.he actual outcome of treatment. for their patients. Theoretical papers have suggested that therapists' expectancies may cause or facilitate patient therapeutic response to treatment. Unfortunately, empirical dat,a relat,ed to these notions are greatly lacking. The present xt,udy tested the relationship between therapist expectancy and treatment nutcome for hospitalized schizophrenic patients. I t also tested two opposing hypotheses re the nature of the link between therapist expectancy and outcome (causative vs. predictive). Multiple regression analyses revealed t#hat therapists' expectancies are multidimensional, formed partly on the basis of therapists' knowledge of psychopathology in general and partly on their perception of their patients' pretreatment adjustment. The analyses also revealed that therapists' expectancies were associated significantly with treatment outcome; the data supported a ppedictive, not causative, interpretation of the nat,ure of therapists' expectancies.