title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan; ; Psychiatric Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan;
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Qijia
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Changqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jianxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xueyao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jianqun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Shuyun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chunying
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yalin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: China; associated factors; counselors and psychotherapists; therapeutic orientation