Evaluation of counselling in primary care: How can research be made more useful for practitioners?

It is proposed that future research on counselling in primary care needs to draw on the paradigm shift in psychotherapy and a range of alternative research methodologies which will be more likely to produce research of relevance to Practice Counsellors.

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents a literature review of research on counselling in general practice critiqued from the perspective of the Practice Counsellor. It is noted that existing studies all focus primarily on outcome of psychological interventions in comparison to routine GP care. The contributions and limitations of these studies are discussed, and the methodological difficulties of conducting controlled trials in this context are explored. It is proposed that future research on counselling in primary care needs to draw on the paradigm shift in psychotherapy and a range of alternative research methodologies which will be more likely to produce research of relevance to Practice Counsellors.