Abstract
Background: Levels of goal agreement between therapists and adult clients have been shown to relate to therapeutic outcomes. Understanding clients' goals for therapy, therefore, is an important area of study. Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic goals that young people have in school-based counselling, and the extent to which different types of goals are achieved. Method: The study is a post-hoc analysis of data collected from two pilot randomised controlled trials (RCT) using the Goal Based Outcome (GBO) tool, in which 73 participants were allocated to either a counselling group or a waitlist control group. Thematic analysis was used to identify the main types of goals young people had; with descriptive quantitative analysis to identify the prevalence of these goals, and multi-level analysis to identify whether some goals were attained to a greater extent than others. Results: The most frequent type of goals identified by young people related to increasing self-confidence and self-acceptance, followed by controlling or reducing anger, improving relationships with family, and increasing feelings of happiness. No significant relationship was found between the type of goal and the extent to which they were attained in counselling. Conclusion: Young people in counselling are particularly concerned with improving their self-confidence, and this suggests a somewhat different focus to the counselling work than that which emerges from counsellors' reports of presenting and predominant issues. This suggests that school-based counsellors should be mindful of clients' particular therapeutic goals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 306-314 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Counselling and Psychotherapy Research |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 1 Aug 2013 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
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Keywords
- goals
- school counselling
- self-confidence
- young people
Cite this
}
The goals of young people in school-based counselling and their achievement of these goals. / Rupani, Pooja; Cooper, Mick; McArthur, Katherine; Pybis, Joanne; Cromarty, Karen; Hill, Andy; Levesley, Ruth; Murdoch, Jamie; Turner, Nick.
In: Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2014, p. 306-314.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - The goals of young people in school-based counselling and their achievement of these goals
AU - Rupani, Pooja
AU - Cooper, Mick
AU - McArthur, Katherine
AU - Pybis, Joanne
AU - Cromarty, Karen
AU - Hill, Andy
AU - Levesley, Ruth
AU - Murdoch, Jamie
AU - Turner, Nick
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Background: Levels of goal agreement between therapists and adult clients have been shown to relate to therapeutic outcomes. Understanding clients' goals for therapy, therefore, is an important area of study. Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic goals that young people have in school-based counselling, and the extent to which different types of goals are achieved. Method: The study is a post-hoc analysis of data collected from two pilot randomised controlled trials (RCT) using the Goal Based Outcome (GBO) tool, in which 73 participants were allocated to either a counselling group or a waitlist control group. Thematic analysis was used to identify the main types of goals young people had; with descriptive quantitative analysis to identify the prevalence of these goals, and multi-level analysis to identify whether some goals were attained to a greater extent than others. Results: The most frequent type of goals identified by young people related to increasing self-confidence and self-acceptance, followed by controlling or reducing anger, improving relationships with family, and increasing feelings of happiness. No significant relationship was found between the type of goal and the extent to which they were attained in counselling. Conclusion: Young people in counselling are particularly concerned with improving their self-confidence, and this suggests a somewhat different focus to the counselling work than that which emerges from counsellors' reports of presenting and predominant issues. This suggests that school-based counsellors should be mindful of clients' particular therapeutic goals.
AB - Background: Levels of goal agreement between therapists and adult clients have been shown to relate to therapeutic outcomes. Understanding clients' goals for therapy, therefore, is an important area of study. Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic goals that young people have in school-based counselling, and the extent to which different types of goals are achieved. Method: The study is a post-hoc analysis of data collected from two pilot randomised controlled trials (RCT) using the Goal Based Outcome (GBO) tool, in which 73 participants were allocated to either a counselling group or a waitlist control group. Thematic analysis was used to identify the main types of goals young people had; with descriptive quantitative analysis to identify the prevalence of these goals, and multi-level analysis to identify whether some goals were attained to a greater extent than others. Results: The most frequent type of goals identified by young people related to increasing self-confidence and self-acceptance, followed by controlling or reducing anger, improving relationships with family, and increasing feelings of happiness. No significant relationship was found between the type of goal and the extent to which they were attained in counselling. Conclusion: Young people in counselling are particularly concerned with improving their self-confidence, and this suggests a somewhat different focus to the counselling work than that which emerges from counsellors' reports of presenting and predominant issues. This suggests that school-based counsellors should be mindful of clients' particular therapeutic goals.
KW - goals
KW - school counselling
KW - self-confidence
KW - young people
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908613770&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14733145.2013.816758
DO - 10.1080/14733145.2013.816758
M3 - Article
VL - 14
SP - 306
EP - 314
JO - Counselling and Psychotherapy Research
JF - Counselling and Psychotherapy Research
SN - 1473-3145
IS - 4
ER -