The Effectiveness of a Client-Centered Approach Training Program for Substance Use Professionals

There is a gap in research knowledge regarding the use of the client-centered approach with individuals experiencing substance use disorders. This researcher takes a closer look at providing a client-centered curriculum with substance use professionals. This pre-experimental research utilized a pre/post-test design. A convenience sample of 18 comprised Master of Social Work alumni who completed the Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor certificate program at Aurora University; and substance use professionals from two substance use treatment agencies in Aurora and Chicago. Training participants were videotaped using the client-centered approach (Rogers, 1958) during mock role plays before and after the training. The Therapist Empathy Scale (TES) (Decker, Nich, Carroll & Martino, 2014) and the Person-Centred Process subscale (PCPS) of the Person-Centred and Experiential Psychotherapy Scale (Freire, Elliot & Westwell, 2013) were used to score training participants’ client-centered practice skills and empathy skills. There was significant improvement with the total TES post-test mean score, t (17) = -3.001, p .008, and significant improvement with the total PCPS post-test mean score, t (17) = -2.845, p = .011. The training participants with master's degrees experienced greater improvement on the TES at post-test than those without master's degrees (t (15) = -.2.528, p = - .023). The small convenience sample resulted in limited study generalizability; thus, more research is needed. Implications include that client-centered training could be beneficial with substance use professionals, individuals with substance use disorders, social work students, educators, and field instructors. Key words: client-centered training, substance use professionals, substance use disorde