“That the therapist is experiencing unconditional positive regard toward the client” : counselling perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Abstract

The unique contribution of unconditional positive regard (UPR) to the process of therapeutic personality change has never been identified over many years of quantitative research, despite it being widely recognised as a necessary therapeutic condition. Only more recent studies have highlighted the need for qualitative investigations. In this study, the subjective experience of UPR was explored in the context of the therapeutic encounter with perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced local therapists and an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of the data was carried out. The use of a well-established methodology and the reflexivity on both personal and methodological biases contributed to the trustworthiness of the study. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Faculty Research Ethics Committee and the participants’ confidentiality and wellbeing supported throughout the research. UPR emerged as a co-created experience which is conditional to the quality of the therapist’s perception of the client. This counterintuitive finding offered a characterisation of the therapist’s experience of UPR as an experience of relational safety rather than of constancy of positive feelings towards the client. It is recommended that further research focuses specifically on the co-created aspects of an ongoing therapeutic process to explore whether and in what forms the therapeutic conditions may emerge from both the therapist’s and the client’s experience. The integration of formative opportunities focused on meaning co-creation in counselling training is encouraged as well as consideration of the motivational disposition of perpetrators in devising treatment programmes and policies.