Drug Treatment Effectiveness and Client-Counselor Empathy: Exploring the Effects of Gender and Ethnic Congruency

Abstract

This study examined the possible effects of client-counselor gender and ethnic congruency on perceived counselor empathy, client engagement in treatment and the maintenance of abstinence during and after out-patient drug treatment. The findings indicate that client-counselor gender and ethnic congruence were significantly associated with higher levels of perceived counselor empathy for all gender, ethnic, and age groups. Contrary to expectation, however, client-counselor gender and ethnic congruence were not consistently associated with higher levels of treatment engagement and abstinence for all gender, ethnic, and age groups. The findings support a recommendation of routinely matching clients to counselors of the same gender for women, Latinos, and clients 35 years or older, but they do not support a recommendation of matching clients to ethnically-congruent counselors, with the possible exception of female clients. The findings also indicate that, with the exception of Latino clients, a policy of matching a client to an empathic counselor regardless of gender or ethnicity of the counselor would lead to a more favorable treatment outcome than would a policy of matching clients solely to gender and ethnically-congruent counselors. This study highlights the need for additional studies examining the client-counselor relationship. Further understanding of this relationship could lead to a greater understanding of the drug treatment process and suggest ways to generally improve the delivery of drug treatment.