Client-therapist congruence of expectations over the course of therapy

The study explores the congruence in role expectations of therapists and clients, and tests whether expectations tend to get similar over the course of therapy. Similarity in expectations was examined both on the group level (therapists vs. clients) and on the dyad level. Role expectations of therapists and clients in a university counselling centre in Israel were compared. Two subsamples were studied: 66 therapy sessions which were first meetings, and 81 sessions at various points over the course of therapy (median = 9 months in therapy). Both therapists and clients in therapy dyads filled in the 'expectation part' of the Role Expectation and Preference Questionnaire' to describe their role expectations regarding the approaching session. The main findings were that there were discrepancies in expectations between therapists and clients, especially with regard to therapists' behaviours. There was no increase in similarity of expectations over the course of therapy. The similarity on the dyad level, on the other hand, was low in first sessions but became higher in subsequent ones. The implications for pre-therapy training and for future research are discussed.