Correlation between Therapist Characteristics and Working Alliance in Mental Health Treatment

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine extent to which general therapist characteristics (empathy, UPR, and genuineness) predicted the alliance, for therapists in outpatient SUD counseling and mental health treatment centers, in the Pacific Northwest. The current study was built on two foundational theories: Rogers core condition and Bordin working alliance theory. Both theories have been developed and refined in multiple research studies. A convenience sampling was used to recruit participants for the study. A total of ninety-five substance use disorder (SUD) counselors and mental health therapists participated in the study, which was carried out through online survey. A simple linear regression was performed to assess the predictive relationship between the outcome variable, the Alliance, and the four predictor variables (total GTC, empathy, UPR, and genuineness). The overall findings showed the null hypotheses (H₀) failed to be rejected for research questions 1 and 3, the p-value was greater than .05. For research question 4, the p-value was less than .05 rejecting the H₀. Research question 2 was removed from further analysis because the scale reliability was below the acceptable threshold.