Patients' perspective on homework assignments in cognitive-behavioural therapy.

Homework assignments are an indispensable part of cognitive-behavioural therapy. During the past two decades, a growing number of studies have shed light on its characteristics and effects. However, most studies primarily consider the therapists' view, and little is known about the use of supportive strategies to implement homework assignments in psychotherapy and about patients' attitudes towards regular assignments. To fill this gap, we assessed the attitudes towards homework assignments of 80 outpatients. In addition, those who had received a task during the past session (75%) were asked to report characteristics of their task as well as therapists' behaviour strategies during the assignment of the task. One week later, therapists rated the extent of completion of the task. Results showed that the patients generally had a positive attitude towards homework and that they accomplished most of the tasks. With regard to the therapists' behaviour during the assignment of the task, there seems to be room for improvement. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.