Black patients' expectations of psychotherapy

The relationship between six demographic variables (sex, age, education, occupation, social class, and treatment) and five therapy expectations (active, medical, supportive, passive, and psychiatric) were examined for the purpose of finding out what Black patients expected from therapy, if their expectations actually differed from traditional treatment modalities, and if there were combinations of the above demographic variables that influenced or were most predictive of these expectations.

The sample consisted of 37 Black adults applying for treatment at a predominantly Black mental health center in Nashville, Tennessee. The instrument used to measure expectations was a AO-item questionnaire developed by Overall and Aronson (1963) and modified by Williams, et al. (1967). Social class was determined by Hoi 1ingshead's Two-Factor Index of Social Position (Myers and Bean, 1968).

It was hypothesized that:

1 . The higher the educational level , the more the patient's expectations would be in congruence with traditional treatment modalities.

2. The expectations of younger patients would be more in congruence with traditional treatment modalities than would those of older patients.

3. The expectations of women would be more in congruence with traditional treatment modalities than men.

The data was analyzed using the stepwise multiple correlation/ regression procedure. Results indicated that Black patients' expectations of therapy do not differ greatly from traditional treatment modalities. Although they expected the therapist to be active, medical, and supportive, to a much larger degree they expected the therapist to be passive and psychiatric. The best predictors of the expectations were: (1) Active--education, sex, and occupation; (2) Medica1--education , age, social class; (3) Supportive--education; (4) Passive--age; and (5) Psychiatric--education and social class.

Although the study concluded with the purpose, for the most part, being achieved, it was felt that the results could not be generalized to all Black patients. The need for further research on a much larger scale was evident and suggestions were made for the implementation of such.