| Abstract: | Performed principal-component factor analyses on patient input (demographic and pretherapy expectations), therapist input (demographic), and patient perspective therapy process variables that significantly differentiated 71 early dropout from 110 nondropout outpatients at 2 community mental health centers. At 1 setting results confirm (a) the presence of selection factors in the intake process whereby the more disturbed patients, who subsequently drop out, are assigned to lower level trained therapists and (b) the proposition that many patients unilaterally terminate despite the perception of the initial session as being an overall positive experience. Findings at the 2nd setting support the more traditionally held view of "dropout" as related to patient dissatisfaction with received services. Differences in the dropout process at the 2 settings were attributed to empirically demonstrated differences in the therapists' theoretical approach to the initial interview. The proclivity of earlier investigators to conceptualize dropouts as being characteristic of a single type of patient seems to be another unfounded homogeneity myth. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
