Trainee estimates of working alliance with upper‐ and working‐class clients

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAlthough social class is recognized as an important variable within multicultural psychology, relatively little research has been conducted on the effects of social class on psychotherapy processes and outcomes.AimsUsing a vignette‐based methodology, we examined the effects of therapy trainees’ social class identity and attitudes on their estimation of forming a working alliance with clients from an upper‐ and working‐class status.Materials & MethodsParticipants were randomly assigned to read one of two clinical vignettes of either an upper‐ or working‐class client presenting for individual therapy. Participants then rated the anticipated strength of their working alliance with the client and their attitudes related to social class.ResultsRegarding training, our results indicated that participants received very few clock hours of instruction related to social class issues. After controlling for socially desirable responding, although we detected no statistically significant bias against lower‐class clientele, we did find a measure of bias among trainees towards those from the upper class. Lower trainee social class; a greater belief that social class status is earned through personal actions, merit and ability; and a greater level of anticipated difficulty working with their vignette client explained the greatest amount of trainee bias towards those from the upper social class.DiscussionWe discussed the implications of these findings for training and future research.