Therapist's self-monitoring style and client satisfaction

The degree to which therapists observe, regulate, and control their appearance with clients is a reflection of their self-monitoring tendency. Different self-monitoring styles of therapists might be related to client's overall satisfaction with the therapist.

Additionally, specific aspects of self-monitoring may be more closely associated with client satisfaction than with others. To investigate this process, 24 therapists completed the Self-Monitoring Scale and three clients of each therapist completed an evaluation form rating their impressions of the therapist. The main hypothesis of the paper suggesting that high self-monitoring therapists would have clients who were more satisfied was not supported. Additionally, no associations were observed between the self-monitoring factors of extraversion and acting and client's rating of satisfaction in the counseling session.