Acceptability of alternative treatments for adults

Treatment acceptability of various psychotherapies was examined in this study. The responses of clients undergoing psychotherapy were compared to practicing psychologists and community representatives. In order to investigate treatment acceptability, all subjects were presented with a case description of a distressed adult. Four treatment approaches were evaluated: cognitive behavioral, client-centered, family systems, and psychodynamic therapy. Treatments were randomly presented in a 2(Case) X 3(Sample) X 4(Psychotherapy) split plot factorial design. Results indicate that cognitive behavior therapy and client-centered therapy were rated more positively by all three subject groups on at least one of the treatment acceptability measures. Clients rated all treatments more favorably than did practicing psychologists. Methodological limitations are discussed, and future research directions in this area are presented. Description of the development and validation of two treatment acceptability measures are included in Appendices.