An investigation of attributional thought in mental health consultation

The area of attribution theory is highly relevant to the practice of mental health consultation, and yet, very little reference to its principles is present in the literature. It is, however, generally acknowledged that the consultant should understand and appreciate the teacher's perceptions of a problem before an effective intervention can be formulated. It is to this end that the present study addresses itself.

Two characteristics of attributions used to explain a student's problem have been the focus of research: the locus of control which is inferred from the attribution, and its relative stability in terms of circumstances and time. This study hypothesizes a third characteristic of importance in consultation, the extent to which the attributions used by the teacher lead him/her to perceive a role in influencing the student and create positive change. The results suggest that this factor has practical ramifications regarding the way in which the teacher describes the problem and perceives a role in the change process.

The emphasis in identifying attributional thought is placed upon obtaining a picture of the natural occurrence of attributional elements and the interrelationships which evolve when they are used in combination to explain a student's problem. The design of the study is correlational--the data were collected and analyzed as it occurred from teachers' self-report and a content analysis of the tape-recorded interview. The study deals exclusively with input variables and is not concerned with the intervention or subsequent change in the child. What resulted was the identification of several factors of attributional thought and the teachers' description of the problem which appear to covary in a relationship of theoretical and practical importance. It is hoped that further investigation of these factors will lead to the refinement of a consultative model which directly addresses the identification and modification of how students' problems are explained and described.