Therapist Expectancy Inventory: Development and Preliminary Validation

That therapists' expectancies are related to counseling process and outcome has been demonstrated in several studies spanning two decades of research. To facilitate the comparability of data and encourage further research, an instrument to measure therapists' expectancies was developed. A total of 1403 clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and counselors completed an inventory designed to assess therapists' diagnostic, prognostic, and process expectancies in regard to a written description of a client's case. Factor analyses of the data yielded four factors: Expectancies for Therapist's Directiveness and Expectancies for Interpretation (both process factors), Expectancies of Outcomes for Client (prognostic), and Expectancies for Client's Need (diagnostic). Implications for research and training are proposed.