The Impact of Hope in Mediating Psychotherapy Expectations and Outcomes: A Study of Brazilian Clients

Abstract

Client treatment expectations and hope are robustly associated with treatment outcome. Despite this, no known studies have examined client hope as a mediator to the relationship between expectancies and psychotherapy session outcomes. In addition, recent literature also supports cross-cultural differences in relations between treatment expectancies and outcomes. This article presents a cross-sectional study with a sample of Brazilian psychotherapy clients collected via referral sampling, in which existing clients referred potential participants. Participants were asked about their symptomatology and expectations of psychotherapy. The current study found that, within this Brazilian sample, trait hope partially mediated relations between expectancies and treatment session outcomes. Further studies are needed to investigate these effects and session outcomes in a culturally competent manner.