TY - JOUR
T1 - Addressing causal beliefs in treatment
T2 - insights from mental health practitioners in Australia
AU - Larkings, Josephine S.
AU - Brown, Patricia M.
AU - Scholz, Brett
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Mental health practitioners' beliefs about the causes of mental illness may influence their approach to treatment and impact therapeutic outcomes. There has been limited research on this topic. This study explores mental health practitioners' views and experiences of addressing causal beliefs in treatment. A thematic framework guided the analysis of semi-structured interviews with 17 mental health practitioners. Participants stated that their causal beliefs impact their approach to treatment, and clients' causal beliefs influence how clients approach treatment. Participants thought that it was important to discuss causes with clients and identified several barriers to, and consequences of, doing so. Participants identified that addressing causal beliefs in treatment influenced factors such as practitioner empathy, therapeutic alliance, engagement in treatment and clients' self-blame.
AB - Mental health practitioners' beliefs about the causes of mental illness may influence their approach to treatment and impact therapeutic outcomes. There has been limited research on this topic. This study explores mental health practitioners' views and experiences of addressing causal beliefs in treatment. A thematic framework guided the analysis of semi-structured interviews with 17 mental health practitioners. Participants stated that their causal beliefs impact their approach to treatment, and clients' causal beliefs influence how clients approach treatment. Participants thought that it was important to discuss causes with clients and identified several barriers to, and consequences of, doing so. Participants identified that addressing causal beliefs in treatment influenced factors such as practitioner empathy, therapeutic alliance, engagement in treatment and clients' self-blame.
KW - Australia
KW - Causal beliefs
KW - mental health practitioners
KW - mental illness
KW - thematic analysis
KW - treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075378023&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03069885.2019.1690631
DO - 10.1080/03069885.2019.1690631
M3 - Article
SN - 0306-9885
VL - 49
SP - 15
EP - 31
JO - British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
JF - British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
IS - 1
ER -