The impact of confrontation on chemically dependent clients' perception of a counselor after short and long lengths of stay in treatment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of confrontation by a counselor and of length of stay in treatment on chemically dependent clients' perceptions of the counselor. Sixty volunteers from clients in treatment for chemical dependency at an East Tennessee psychiatric hospital were asked to watch a short videotape of a simulated chemical dependency therapy group and then to describe the counselor on the tape by responding to the Counselor Rating Form-Short. They were also asked to rate the counselor's degree of confrontativeness and to provide basic demographic data about themselves. Thirty of the subjects were in treatment less than two weeks and were randomly assigned to see either a videotape depicting a highly conftentative counselor or a videotape depicting a nonconfrontative counselor. Thirty of the subjects were in treatment more than eight weeks and were likewise randomly assigned to see one of the two videotapes. Prior to collection of data, the two videotapes were rated by experienced counselors and found to be substantially different in the degree of confrontation exhibited by the counselor. Results indicate that a confrontational counselor produced higher ratings of expertness, lower ratings of attractiveness and no difference in ratings of trustworthiness when compared with a non confrontational counselor. Subjects with a length of stay (LOS) of less than two weeks rated both counselors higher on every trait than subjects with a LOS of more than eight weeks. The discussion includes consideration of implications for chemical dependency treatment and limitations of the study.