Therapeutic commitment and role security in work with men with violence-related problems: An investigation and test of a model

This study investigated whether therapists' therapeutic commitment and role security could be important therapist factors in therapy with those client groups chat: are perceived as being difficult to work with. Therapeutic co mmitment represents how committed therapists were to such work and role sec urity measures to how secure they felt in their role. This study explored w hether these factors could potentially explain some of the individual varia tion found between therapists in treatment outcomes. Following a pilot stud y, 209 therapists, consisting of 20 violence counsellors, 56 Relate counsel lors, 58 forensic and prison psychologists and 75 clinical psychologists, c ompleted self-report questionnaires by post about their work with Violent m en. Therapists' therapeutic commitment and role security were found to correlat e significantly with expectations of clinical outcome on a case vignette, a nd with the level of violence chat was usually worked with. Role security a nd therapeutic commitment also correlated significantly with therapists' le vel 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 indicate d the importance of role security in dealing with violence.