Therapeutic commitment and role security in work with men with violence-related problems: an investigation and test...

This study investigated whether therapists' therapeutic commitment and role security could be important therapist factors in therapy with those client groups that are perceived as being difficult to work with. Therapeutic commitment represents how committed therapists were to such work and role security measures to how secure they felt in their role. This study explored whether these factors could potentially explain some of the individual variation found between therapists in treatment outcomes. Following a pilot study, 209 therapists, consisting of 20 violence counsellors, 56 Relate counsellors, 58 forensic and prison psychologists and 75 clinical psychologists, completed self-report questionnaires by post about their work with violent men. Therapists' therapeutic commitment and role security were found to correlate significantly with expectations of clinical outcome on a case vignette, and with the level of violence that was usually worked with. Role security and therapeutic commitment also correlated significantly with therapists' level of experience, education about violence, role support and self-esteem. Differences existed between the professional groups on these latter factors and also in therapeutic commitment and role security. The results indicated the importance of role security in dealing with violence.