Psychologists' Perspectives on Therapy Termination and the Use of Therapy Engagement/Retention Strategies.

Practicing psychologists (n = 269) were surveyed regarding their perspectives on client reasons for termination at different points in therapy and their use of strategies to engage and retain clients in therapy. Psychologists estimated that one-third of their caseload unilaterally terminated (M = 13% before the third therapy session; M = 20% after the third session). They viewed lack of readiness for change/insufficient motivation as the most important barrier to early treatment engagement, and symptom improvement as the most important reason for clients' unilateral decisions to end therapy after the third session. Most psychologists reported occasional use of the majority of engagement and retention strategies. Although some strategies were used by most psychologists (e.g., building the early working alliance), fewer than 25% of psychologists reported the frequent use of time-limited treatment, appointment reminders or case management procedures. As the implementation of these strategies in clinical practice has the potential to greatly influence client retention rates, future research should examine psychologists' perspectives on and barriers to using these strategies.