Attitudes towards and Observations of Nonverbal Communication in a Psychotherapeutic Greeting Situation: III. An Interview Study of Outpatients

Abstract

An interview study of 50 Swedish nonpsychotic outpatients treated by some kind of psychotherapy was performed to investigate their attitudes towards and observations of nonverbal communication in a greeting situation according to the Questionnaire on Nonverbal Communication (psychotherapy patients' version) in relation to background factors such as gender, age, education, and profession, interest in psychological matters, “reading articles and books in psychology,” duration of professional help for psychological troubles, number of occasions waiting for a new therapist, and number of therapeutic sessions before the interview. The greeting situation was the first time a patient and a therapist met in a waiting room. Test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was larger for items about observation of nonverbal communication than for those about attitudes. Face communication (eye contact and smile) was considered by the subjects to constitute the most important nonverbal communication in the greeting process. The importance of the face in communication was stressed when the patient believed that such communication corresponded to more than 50% of the total communication in general, was female, was elderly, or reported special interest in nonverbal communication in the greeting situation. Some effects of bias were discussed. The analyses also showed a considerable consciousness and observation in the greeting situation by many psychotherapeutic outpatients.