Master's Theses

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Date of Award

Spring 1988

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Social Work

Advisor

Bill Daley

Abstract

A status-survey design was employed to determine the degree of anger selected client behaviors evoked within practicing therapists and practicum students in training to become therapists. Returned, usable questionnaires included response of 200 therapists from university and mental health settings in a single state: 47 were doctoral level, 106 were master’s level, and 47 were practicum students; 107 of the 200 were from university settings while 93 were from mental health settings; 107 participants were female and 93 were male. Six null hypotheses were tested, two employing analysis of variance and four using chi square. Each analysis of variance tested six different arrangements, resulting in tests of 30 main effects, 30 interactions, and four chi squares. Fourteen results were statistically significant at the .05 level and 50 were not significant at that level. The statistically significant results were: (a) interaction between level of formal education and work setting; (b) the chi square statistic between years of experience, in which greater than two years was compared with less than two years experience as a therapist; and (c) main effects for work setting, gender, and years of experience for one of the following scales: (1) resistance, (2) imposition on or attempted manipulation of the therapist, (3) display of apparent disrespect for the therapist, (4) refusal to accept responsibility or display of overt disdain for others, (5) other, and (6) Total (scale scores combined). Statistically significant results indicated (a) therapists from mental health settings reported a greater degree of anger toward clients than did therapists from university settings, (b) females reported a greater degree of anger toward clients than did males, and (c) therapists with greater than two years experience reported more frequently their approval for the direct/unmistakable expression of anger to clients than did therapists with less than two years experience. There was an inverse correlation between years of experience and total emotional arousal scores; therapists with the most experience reported the lowest degree of anger. Yet, relatively inexperienced therapists reported less frequently their approval for the direct/unmistakable expression of anger to clients than did more experienced therapists.

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Rights

© 1988 Bonnie Y. Ginther

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