• Summary: This article addresses the myths that multi-problem poor clients and professionals hold about each other, since process variables play a decisive role in the success of the intervention.
• Findings: The principal myths which have emerged from this study indicate that the effectiveness of the intervention is perceived by clients and professionals to depend on the actions of the professional; and the ineffectiveness of the intervention is perceived by clients to depend on the actions of the professional and by the professionals to depend on the capacity of the families to follow their instructions.
• Applications : The emerging myths allow us to understand that the process of intervention can be affected by disculpability and adequate impotence, since each sub-system tends to blame the other when interventions run a negative course.
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