(PS13-59) Therapists Willingness to Treat High Risk Patients

Abstract Text: Title: Therapists’ Willingness to Treat High-Risk Patients
Authors: Spencer Ellison, Keegan Moglowsky, Ty Dubman, Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp, PhD
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide are major public health concerns (CDC, 2022) and represent behaviors most practitioners will encounter at some point in their careers (Giordano et al., 2020). Unfortunately, many mental health providers lack confidence in their skills for treating suicidal and/or self-injuring patients (Wakai, et al., 2020). Therapists perceived confidence in their skills, or readiness to treat suicide, positively correlates with their willingness to treat those who are at risk for suicide (Almaliah-Rauscher et al., 2020). In experimental designs using a hypothetical suicidal client, researchers have found that around one-third of participants expressed a low willingness to work with the client (Growth & Boccio, 2019). Factors such as concerns about liability, emotional contagion, and suicide severity appeared to moderate willingness to treat (Groth & Boccio, 2019; Levi-Belz et al., 2020). However, studies have not explored whether these same patterns emerge regarding providers’ willingness to treat NSSI, which is a known risk factor for suicide (Ribeiro et al, 2016). Further, there is a lack of research into how personal attitudes about self-harm behaviors or therapists’ own NSSI/suicide experiences, relate to willingness to treat patients with self-harm. The purpose of the present study was to explore therapists’ willingness to treat clients with NSSI compared to those with suicide risk or depression and to examine the factors associated with their willingness to treat. Participants are recruited via email invitations sent through a “find a therapist” locator for providers practicing in the Midwestern U.S. Those accessing the study are randomly assigned to read one of three hypothetical client vignettes (NSSI, suicide risk, depression) and complete a series of questions evaluating willingness to treat the client and factors impacting willingness (e.g., liability, confidence, preparation, attitudes). Data collection recently began and will be completed by the end of May. Analyses will consist of an ANCOVA and multinomial logistic regression to examine which variables predict willingness to treat levels across the conditions. Implications of the results for therapist training, study limitations, and future directions of study will be presented.