Client And Therapist Factors Influencing Premature Termination Of Psychotherapy In A Community Mental Health Center

The records of 170 mental health center clients were examined for factors resulting in failure to return following an intake interview. Factors examined included client gender, intake therapist gender, client race, client age, intake therapist experience level, and type of client referral (to the intake therapist or to another therapist for treatment). A stepwise discriminant function multivariate analysis revealed significant relationships between the dependent measure (whether the client returned for therapy after the intake interview) and the two factors, therapist experience and client race. No other factors were related to client return rate.