The effect of note-taking on a simulated clinical interview

This study investigated the effect of note-taking in a simulated therapeutic session on the ratings of therapist's effectiveness, client's perception of the session, and total therapeutic impact. Half of 34 social work graduate students were shown a videotaped dramatization of a therapy session with the interviewer taking notes, the other half an identical session but without note-taking. The latter was rated as significantly higher than the session with notes. Similarly, the ratings of the therapist's effectiveness and of the client's perceptions of the therapy session were significantly higher for the session without notes. Neither the raters' age, clinical experience, nor stated theoretical orientation significantly influenced the ratings of the therapy sessions. The results indicate that note-taking is viewed by clinicians as a distracting and detrimental variable in a clinical interview. The generalizability of these results, the need for studies utilizing client instead of therapist ratings, and the role of videotaped control of variables are discussed.