IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/epplan/v56y2016icp23-30.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploration of the reasons for dropping out of psychotherapy: A qualitative study

Author

Listed:
  • Khazaie, Habibolah
  • Rezaie, Leeba
  • Shahdipour, Niloofar
  • Weaver, Patrick

Abstract

Elucidating the reasons for dropping out of psychotherapy can lead to the development of interventions aimed at reducing patient drop out. The present study aimed to explore patients’ reasons for dropping out of psychotherapy in Kermanshah, Iran. The present qualitative study was performed using conventional content analysis. The current sample included 15 participants consisting of 7 patients who dropped out of psychotherapy and 8 psychotherapists who have previously experienced patient dropout. A semi-structured interview was used for data collection. All interviews were audio recorded and subsequently transcribed. Content analysis using constant comparisons was performed for transcribed interviews. Four main categories emerged as reasons for dropping out of psychotherapy: dissatisfaction with the quality of psychotherapy, financial problems in psychotherapy, unprepared socio-cultural context of psychotherapy, and psychotherapy as a non-user friendly treatment. Additionally, specific subcategories within each main category were documented. The results revealed distinct reasons for psychotherapy drop out in the current Iranian-based sample. These identified reasons should be considered and addressed at the onset of treatment as well as in the development of formal interventions aimed at reducing dropout. Further research investigating the antecedents leading to patient drop out is recommended.

Suggested Citation

  • Khazaie, Habibolah & Rezaie, Leeba & Shahdipour, Niloofar & Weaver, Patrick, 2016. "Exploration of the reasons for dropping out of psychotherapy: A qualitative study," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 23-30.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:epplan:v:56:y:2016:i:c:p:23-30
    DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.03.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149718915300495
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.03.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Noble, Lorraine M. & Douglas, Brian C. & Newman, Stanton P., 2001. "What do patients expect of psychiatric services? A systematic and critical review of empirical studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 985-998, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Georgios Eleftheriou & Riccardo Zandonella Callegher & Raffaella Butera & Marco De Santis & Anna Franca Cavaliere & Sarah Vecchio & Cecilia Lanzi & Riccardo Davanzo & Giovanna Mangili & Emi Bondi & Lo, 2024. "Consensus Panel Recommendations for the Pharmacological Management of Breastfeeding Women with Postpartum Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(5), pages 1-27, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Agneta Schröder & Gerd Ahlström & Bodil Wilde Larsson, 2006. "Patients’ perceptions of the concept of the quality of care in the psychiatric setting: a phenomenographic study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 93-102, January.
    2. Johnson, Blair T. & Acabchuk, Rebecca L., 2018. "What are the keys to a longer, happier life? Answers from five decades of health psychology research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 218-226.
    3. Juan Francisco Roldán-Merino & Manuel Tomás-Jiménez & Agneta Schröder & Lars-Olov Lundqvist & Montserrat Puig-Llobet & Antonio R. Moreno-Poyato & Marta Domínguez del Campo & Sara Sanchez-Balcells & Ma, 2023. "Quality in Psychiatric Care in the Community Mental Health Setting from the Perspective of Patients and Staff," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-14, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:epplan:v:56:y:2016:i:c:p:23-30. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/evalprogplan .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.