At the completion of this activity, participants will:
Explain the common therapeutic factors that affect treatment outcome and review specific factors that affect the quality of the therapeutic relationship.
Describe core counseling skills used to form and maintain a therapeutic relationship.
Define the effects of expectancy and patient feedback on the therapeutic relationship.
Presentation Summary: Regardless of the quality of the training and supervision or the fidelity to the model, the quality and effectiveness of the treatment model will be seriously eroded unless the counselor has quality skills in “the basics” of doing counseling. Research indicates that the therapeutic relationship accounts for 30% of patient outcomes. Given the importance of the therapeutic relationship in outcomes relative to specific counseling techniques, this core therapeutic skill of developing a patient alliance should be of primary concern within the scope of any clinical development initiative or anyone interested in improving patient outcomes and increasing retention.
