2008/01/01 by Joshua K. Swift, Jennifer L. Callahan, Mick Cooper +2 · 277 citations
Medicine · Psychology · #Accommodation #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Clinical psychology #Cognitive and psychological constructs research #Medicine #Meta-analysis #Outcome (game theory) #Preference #Psychology #Psychotherapist #Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications #Schizophrenia research and treatment #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1002/jclp.22680
published in Journal of Clinical Psychology 74(11), 1924-1937 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2018/08/08 · openalex created_date 2018/08/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Client preferences in psychotherapy reflect specific conditions and activities that clients desire in their treatment, with increasing evidence pointing to preference accommodation as facilitating psychotherapy outcomes. This updated meta-analysis establishes the magnitude of the effect of client preference accommodation in psychotherapy. Based on data from 53 studies and over 16,000 clients, preference accommodation was associated with fewer treatment dropouts (OR = 1.79) and more positive treatment outcomes (d = 0.28) than providing client with a nonpreferred treatment or psychotherapy condition. The preference effect was moderated by study design, timing and type of outcome measurement, and client diagnosis. It was not moderated by year of publication, treatment duration, preference type, treatment options, client age, client gender, client ethnicity, or client years of education. The authors provide a case example of preference accommodation and practice recommendations for working with client preferences.