Therapeutic Processes in Professional and Peer Counseling of Family Caregivers of Frail Elderly People

Therapeutic processes used by peer and professional counselors during a brief, problem-focused individual intervention program were assessed using the Vanderbilt Psychotherapy Process Scale (VPPS) and an Advice-Giving Rating Form. It was hypothesized that peer and professional counselors would be similar in warmth and friendliness, would do more in-depth exploring, and would offer less advice. It was also hypothesized that clients of professional counselors would score higher on the patient participation and patient exploration subscales and lower on the patient dependency subscale of the VPPS. Findings indicate that professionals were significantly warmer and friendlier, engaged in greater exploration, and gave more and different types of advice than peers. No differences were found in any client process variables that were measured.