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Changing attitudes towards psychotherapy via social observations: are similarities more important than discrepancies?
Objectives: Therapy expectations and attitudes towards psychotherapy contribute substantially to the outcome, process and duration of psychotherapy. The a priori use of role model videos seems to be promising for changing expectations and attitudes towards psychotherapy. In contrast, underlying me...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Philipps-Universität Marburg
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | PDF Full Text |
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| Summary: | Objectives: Therapy expectations and attitudes towards psychotherapy contribute substantially to the outcome,
process and duration of psychotherapy. The a priori use of role model videos seems to be promising for changing
expectations and attitudes towards psychotherapy. In contrast, underlying mechanisms, like identifying with the
role model, have been sparsely investigated in studies so far. For instance, the effects of similarities and differences
between the role model and the observer are not clear yet.
Methods: A total of 158 persons were recruited and randomly assigned to four groups. In one of three experimental
groups, participants watched an expectation-optimised video with patients giving information about their mostly
positive therapy outcomes (positive model). Two further experimental groups saw the same video, but either received
instructions to focus on similarities (similarity group) or on differences (discrepancy group) between the patients and
themselves. A further control group watched a video with patients who gave information about their symptoms. As
the primary outcome variable, we assessed attitudes towards psychotherapy using the Questionnaire on Attitudes
towards Psychotherapy (QAPT). It was filled in before and after watching the video and after a two-week follow-up
period.
Results: Contrary to the hypotheses, the discrepancy group and the experimental group without further
intervention (positive model) showed significant improvements in their attitudes towards psychotherapy after
watching the video, while such an effect was not found in the similarity group or control group.
Conclusion: Focusing on similarities between patient examples and the observer does not support a change in
therapy expectations or attitudes through observation, while a positive video model without instructions, or with the
instruction to focus on differences does. Attentional interference and depth of cognitive evaluation are discussed as
possible reasons.
Trial registration: Ethical approval (2018-19k) was obtained from the ethics committee of the Psychological
Department, University of Marburg, and the trial was registered at Aspredicted.org (#22,205; 16.04.2019). |
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| Item Description: | Gefördert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der UB Marburg. |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s40359-022-00952-z |