Counselor prejudice, history of recovery, and client race/gender as predictors of counselor assessments of substance -abusing clients
Abstract
This study examined counselor prejudice, history of recovery, and client race/gender as predictors of counselor empathy, causal attributions, and global assessment of functioning for substance dependent clients. Substance abuse counselors (N = 120) received 1 randomly assigned vignette depicting either a Black male or female or a Caucasian male and female. Racial and gender bias were measured with the Quick Discrimination Index. Empathy was measured with the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale, causal attributions were measured by the Etiology Attribution Scale and the Causal Dimension Scale, and assessment of functioning was measured with the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale in the DSM-IV. Significant relationships were found between counselor prejudice and empathy and also between counselor prejudice and attributions of the client's responsibility for causing his/her problems. Results from this study also suggest that counselor history of recovery and client's race and gender are unrelated to the assessments counselors make in regard to causal attributions, global functioning, and cause of the client's problem.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
Roach, Elizabeth Finnegan, "Counselor prejudice, history of recovery, and client race/gender as predictors of counselor assessments of substance -abusing clients" (2005). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3166578.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3166578
