Psychology journal article summary

and Journal Article Summary No. Article Source:
Satterfield, William A., Buelow, Sidne A., Lyddon, William J., Johnson, J. T., Client Stages of Change and Expectations About Counseling,  Journal of Counseling Psychology, 00220167, October 1, 1995, Vol. 42, Issue 4.
This article provides discussion about the procedures being applied by the University of Rhode Island with respect to the client stages of change and the corresponding expectations to the clients or respondents in relation to counseling. They conducted the study through principle component factor analysis taking notes of the results in every stages of the counseling process. They facilitated the research by getting 88 clients or respondents (66 women and 22 men) who are seeking counseling services from the US. They were given questionnaires wherein respondents are expected to give their answers. Out of their answers, the data collected will provide sufficient information regarding clients’ expectation to counseling in connection to factors like, personal commitment, facilitative conditions, counselor expertise, and nurturance.
The result shows the relation between the four stages of change (pre-contemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance) to the clients’ four expectation factors (personal commitment, facilitative conditions, counselor expertise, and nurturance.) The implication is that stage of change and expectations of clients are vital factors to assess whether the client is ready to engage in therapeutic process or not. Knowing the client’s expectations is favorable to the counselor and will be much helpful for him in order to make anticipations of any future or potential problems and difficulties that he might encounter during counseling. By then he will be able to find out where he is going to situate himself in dealing with different clients and at the end categorize, whether who of his clients would need corresponding counseling strategies.
The procedural analysis applied by the university is really designed to help both those who seek for counseling and the counselors themselves. Their intention is to provide sufficient information that will be helpful in handling counseling clients. This article will educate those who are looking for an effective approach in the field of counseling. The responsibility of the counselor is to maintain a continuous communication with the people, and interaction with them will start an atmosphere that the clients will adapt. The therapeutic process is such a tough job and an overall understanding of the approaches that will be applied is necessary to make an effective counseling. Knowing what the counselor will do is relevant to knowing who and what the client feels.
The more that the counselor can make an inviting communication with the clients will develop a sense of rapport between them, and this situation will bring out trust to the client to what the counselor and the process could do. The counselor should always be flexible in every situation and in every client since every stages of change is dependent to different client expectations. The more that the trust of the client to the therapeutic process is established, the more the results will be favorable. The highlight is, once a person seek to engage in a therapeutic process like counseling, the main goal is to make him first get his heart that the process can do something for him. Every process that will be applied are proven to be effective for years, but still cooperation from the clients are still needed for them to how effective the therapeutic process will be.