Community and client perceptions of psychologists and other health professionals

Abstract

In an attempt to define Australian professional psychology's public image, a random sample of Sydney metropolitan area adults and adult clients of psychologists were surveyed to assess their knowledge of and attitudes towards mental health and physical‐health professionals. The community group held more favourable opinions of the physical‐health professionals than the mental health professionals, with psychologists generally rated quite low. The results for the clients were better but not as favourable as psychologists might wish. A multivariate approach was taken to identify the predictors of favourable attitudes towards psychologists and future usage of psychological services. Findings on respondents' health, knowledge, and attitudes are presented and discussed, along with the clients' reactions to their experiences with psychologists.

Profiling a Profession: A Victorian Survey Assessing Lay Attitudes Toward and Knowledge of Counselling Psychologists

“…Where social workers and counselling psychologists were perceived to be “very much” valued by an equal number of respondents, social workers were endorsed as “very much” needed and respected by a higher percentage of respondents than any other MHP. These outcomes are inconsistent with previous Australian findings that have implied an unfavourable public impression of psychologists (Hartwig & Delin, 2003; Hopson & Cunningham, 1995). For example, Hartwig & Delin (2003) found that psychologists were regarded by the South Australian public as the least needed professionals.…”

“…For example, Hartwig & Delin (2003) found that psychologists were regarded by the South Australian public as the least needed professionals. Indeed, the present results contradict a large body of research that has shown both the public's unwillingness to seek psychological assistance (Hopson & Cunningham, 1995; Small & Gault, 1975; Thompson, Hunt, & Issakidis, 2004) and their perception of psychologists as less valuable than other professionals (Hopson & Cunningham, 1995; Sharpley, 1986). One possible explanation for this discrepancy is the presence of selection bias in the current sample, with participants recruited via a non‐random sampling strategy.…”

“…The consistent finding that clients or individuals with a previous client history with a psychologist exhibit greater knowledge of the profession (Hopson & Cunningham, 1995; Murstein & Fontaine, 1993) was supported by the results of the present study. Responses to the open‐ended question concerning perceived differences between counselling and clinical psychologists supported previous research that revealed that while overlap exists (Osipow, Cohen, Jenkins, & Dostal, 1979; Watkins, Schneider, Hap Cox, & Reinberg, 1987), the primary distinction made between the professions concerned relative activities associated with the normality–pathology continuum (Tipton, 1983).…”

“…Second, Victoria is under‐represented in Australian public opinion research of psychologists. At present, psychology's public image has been derived from Queensland (Agnew, 2003; Dempsey, 2007; Sharpley et al., 2004; Wilkinson et al., 1978), New South Wales (Hopson & Cunningham, 1995), and South Australia (Hartwig & Delin, 2003). The lack of public opinion data derived from Victoria is disappointing, particularly when Victorian members of both the counselling and clinical colleges of the APS comprise the second largest membership base across all states and territories in Australia, and where three of the five university programmes in the specialty of counselling psychology exist.…”

Potential clients' beliefs about the relative competency and caring of psychologists: Implications for the profession

“…A recent study in Australia (Hopson & Cunningham, 1995) drew upon both consumers of mental-health services (clients) and the general public (potential clients). Both groups rated seven health professions.…”