Dropout em atendimento psicológico com adultos

: importância de variáveis sociodemográficas e do processo terapêutico

Abstract

Dropout consists in the client’s unilateral decision to end therapy after the first session, which can occur by failing to attend the session or by cancelling the appointment without further scheduling a session. The present study generally aimed to explore the role played by various sociodemographic and clinical variables, as well as dropout process variables within a clinical sample constituted by adults. The sample consisted of 354 adults from a University Psychology Clinic, aged between 18 and 77 years old. The following instruments were used for this study: (1) Form to request psychology services; (2) Information provided by the therapists and (3) Brief Symptom Inventory. The results allowed to conclude that some sociodemographic variables- sex, family typology and civil status- considerably influence dropout. There were also found significant results regarding clinical variables- diagnosis/problem, comorbidities, medication, symptomatology index- and dropout. Finally, there were also substantial results concerning the process variables- intervention theoretical model, total number of sessions, and duration of the process in moths – and dropout. Dropout does not constitute a linear phenomenon, given that there are diverse variables (sociodemographic, clinical and process-related) that influence this event.

Date of Award	12 Jul 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandra Carneiro (Supervisor) & Pedro Dias (Co-Supervisor)