A delay-discounting measure of preference for racial/ethnic matching in psychotherapy.

Abstract

In this study, we sought to compare racial/ethnic minority participants' preference for racial/ethnic matching in psychotherapy with preferences for other methods of addressing cultural factors in treatment. Using a delay-discounting method, college students (331 racial/ethnic minority students from 2 universities) and a nationwide sample of self-reported clients (n = 77) were asked to indicate their strength of preference for 4 different methods for addressing culturally related variables in psychotherapy, including a desire to (a) work with a therapist whose race/ethnicity matches their own, (b) work with a therapist with a high level of multicultural training and experience, (c) receive a culturally adapted treatment, and (d) receive a therapist who is also a member of a racial/ethnic minority group, but not the same as the participant (i.e., a racial/ethnic minority pairing). We found that participants were willing to make significant sacrifices in treatment efficacy in order to receive each of the variables tested. In both samples, preferences were significantly stronger for therapist multicultural training/experience and use of culturally adapted treatments compared with racial/ethnic matching and racial/ethnic minority pairing. Further analyses indicated that clients expressed stronger preferences for racial/ethnic match and minority pairing than college student participants, and preference strength for 3 of the 4 scenarios was significantly related to strength of minority culture identification. The results of this study have important implications for preference accommodation in psychotherapy with racial/ethnic minority individuals.

Assessing Patient Preferences: Examination of the German Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences

“…Another method described is to present participants with multiple cases and rank-order their ratings on relevant therapy aspects. Methodologically close to this approach is a delay-discounting measure proposed by Swift et al (2015) allowing for comparisons between two particular characteristics. The more (hypothetical) effectiveness patients sacrifice for any characteristic, the higher their preference.…”

The impact of accommodating client preference in psychotherapy: A meta‐analysis

“…Although most clients picked the 70% option at first, on average they switched to the less effective treatment once it reached 30%—thus indicating they were willing to sacrifice 40% in treatment efficacy to ensure that positive relationship. The same method with racial–ethnic participants found that they had much stronger preferences for therapist multicultural training and use of culturally adapted treatments than they did for simple racial–ethnic matching with their therapists (Swift, Callahan, Tompkins, Connor, & Dunn, ). More recently, Boswell and colleagues () used this method to examine preferences for clinician performance information.…”

Cooper-Norcross Tercih Envanteri Türkçe Uyarlaması : Bir Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışması

“…The second area in counseling preferences, the client preferences (Swift, et al, 2018), which was also called as therapist preferences in the earlier sources as a subfield of client preferences, refers to the preferences regarding the demographic characteristics of the therapist offering psychological assistance (Swift, et al, 2011). However, research suggests that not only demographics, but also assessments about personality traits of the therapist also play a role in this preference (Swift, et al, 2015). The third area of preference in counseling is the therapy preferences.…”