Values Held by Office-Based and Home-Based Therapists in Northern New England

Abstract

As a first study of the values of rural mental health professionals, the Survey of Personal Values and the Survey of Interpersonal Values were completed by 51 office-based psychotherapists and 87 home-based therapists from rural areas in 3 northern New England states. Discriminant function analyses using the 2 sets of values as predictors of therapist group did not support the hypothesis that the home-based therapists would more highly value Independence and Goal Orientation than the office-based therapists; in fact, the therapists in the 2 settings were remarkably similar in their values. The rural therapists, as one group, more frequently endorsed the personal values of Achievement and Decisiveness and the interpersonal values of Independence, Benevolence, and Support. Male therapists more frequently endorsed Practical Mindedness and Achievement than female therapists.