National survey of therapeutic orientation and associated factors of counselors and psychotherapists in China

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the most commonly used and primary psychotherapeutic orientations adopted by Chinese practitioners and to examine the factors associated with the choice of orientation. A nationwide survey using multi-stage convenience sampling without replacement was conducted. A total of 1,232 respondents out of the 1,325 participants selected completed the survey, which corresponds to an overall response rate of 93.0%. The respondents were practitioners who were providing consultations and psychotherapy in China at the time. The main outcome measures were the most commonly used and primary psychotherapeutic orientations. A Chi-square test was used to examine the factors associated with therapeutic orientation. The most commonly used psychotherapies were cognitive therapy (59.2%), behavioral therapy (38.1%) and the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic model (29.4%). The primary orientations were cognitive therapy (41.6%), the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic model (15.7%) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (10.3%). Gender had no effect on the orientation choice. Cognitive therapy was used significantly more by respondents who were ≤30 years old (50.5%), who had been in practice ≤3 years (45.9%), received continuing education ≤64 h (47.2%) and accepted no clinical supervision (53.1%). Those who were ≥31 years old (18.4%), had been in practice ≥7 years (21.0%), received continuing education ≥65 h (23.6%), worked full-time (20.2%) and accepted clinical supervision (20.6%) used the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic model significantly more. The respondents who used cognitive-behavioral therapy had graduated from the medical profession (14.1%) and were not licensed (15.8%). Cognitive therapy and the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic model were the two most popular orientations adopted by Chinese counselors and psychotherapists. Age, years of practice, graduate profession, continuing education, working hours (full/part-time), licensure and supervision are significant factors that affect the choice of orientation.

General Overview of Psychotherapeutic Practice in Poland. Results from a Nationwide Survey

“…Only 5 % do not attend any supervision. The prevalence of supervision is similar to that in Germany and Switzerland, where 90 % of the therapists claim to have supervision [ 18 ], and is much higher than that in China, where only 64 % of the therapists have supervision [ 16 ].…”

“…The proportion of gender varies among countries; some are dominated by women (e.g. the UK, Canada, Australia, Argentina, China, India; [ 11 – 16 ]; some by men (New Zealand, South Korea; [ 14 , 17 ]; and in some the proportions are relatively equal (Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway; [ 18 – 20 ]. However, even in countries in which the profession is dominated by women, the proportions are smaller than in Poland.…”

“…The results from other studies show that there are countries with younger populations of therapists (e.g. South Korea – 34, China – 37, Argentina – 37 [ 17 ]; [ 12 , 16 ]), but in most of the surveyed countries the age of the therapists is higher (Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, India, New Zealand, [ 14 , 15 , 18 – 20 ]; in some exceeding even 50 years (USA, Canada, UK, Australia; [ 11 , 13 , 14 , 21 ]. The average age above 50 may reflect the fact that in those countries most people enter the profession later in life as a second career, which probably occurs rarely in Poland; for example, in a survey conducted among psychotherapists in the UK, 95 % of respondents had another profession prior to psychotherapy [ 11 ].…”

“…This variable is strongly connected with the mean age of the therapists. Other studies show that the average experience varies from 5.6 to 24.4 years in different countries [ 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 22 ]. The average experience of Polish therapists seems to be longer than that of therapists from South Korea, China and Germany, but shorter than that of therapists from Norway, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.…”

“…One study showed that about 64 % of practitioners in Germany and about 85 % in Switzerland were certified [ 18 ]. Another study from China showed that in this country, 77 % of practitioners were certified [ 16 ]. The relatively low percentage of certified therapists may indicate a problem in the Polish therapeutic community.…”