Effects of Attire and Gender in Interview Setting

Therapist Competency and Gender Effects

The existing research on therapist competency can be divided into two broad categories: (1) studies that examine perceptions of therapist competency as a function of gender differences; and (2) studies that examine perceptions of therapist competency as a function of non-gender-related factors. Both areas of this research are reviewed here.

Gender Effects. Bridgman (1990) examined for the influences of therapist gender, level of therapeutic experience (as manipulated by a written introduction, and a 15-minute in vivo session with a therapist) on subjects' perceptions of therapist competence and empathy. Subjects in the study were female undergraduates (N=64) who read an introduction of a male or a female therapist who was described as either "experienced" or "inexperienced." Actual therapeutic experience was held constant across therapists.

Prior to the therapeutic interview, bu

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ondents would give more positive ratings to therapists most similar in age was supported for the dimensions of therapist competence and preference for a therapist. In other words, the more clients believed therapists to be similar to themselves, at least in terms of age, the more likely they were to believe that therapists were competent. Years of experience was also found to be a contributor factor to competency perceptions. Specifically, it was found that highly experienced therapists (616 years) were viewed more as more competent than were therapists with lesser experience (13 years) by all three age groups. Culture can also affect perceptions of therapists' competence. For example, Atkinson (1992) randomly assigned Mexican-American community college students (n=189), who varied by level of acculturation, to one of four stimulus conditions, each of which varied by counselor ethnicity and cultural responsiveness. The highest ratings of competence were obtained when counselors were portrayed as culturally responsive and lowest ratings when counselor was portrayed as culturally unresponsive; this finding remained constant regardless of counselor ethnicity or participant acculturation. Style of counselors' interpreta
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Approximate Word count = 6088
Approximate Pages = 24 (250 words per page)

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