Orienting therapists about patients' needs to increase patient satisfaction

Twenty-nine psychotherapists received orientation about patients' cultural background, expectations, and therapeutic needs. They treated 98 patients before orientation and 73 afterward, and a follow-up interview was conducted 4-6 weeks after completion of therapy. The patients seen after therapist orientation were more satisfied with the services, felt better able to handle problems, were more likely to seek therapy for future problems, and felt more strongly that their needs for clinic services had been met than the patients seen by therapists before orientation. Analyses of therapist experience, patients' ethnicity, and patients' orientation to psychotherapy showed no significant interactions with patient satisfaction.