Perceptions of Therapists’ Competence Based on Age and Gender Presentation

Abstract

The researcher aimed to explore perceptions of therapists’ competence in two domains: (a) knowledge of therapeutic interventions and (b) ability to align with clients, based on the therapists’ age and gender presentation in alignment to their own. Ninety-eight participants affiliated with a small Midwestern university’s college of human services completed a survey with demographics, the Modern Sexism Scale (Rollero et al., 2014), and the Australian Ageing Semantic Differential (Wilson et al., 2019), and multiple-choice between six stock photos of therapists, which were shown two at a time. The stock photo therapists were representative of differing age and gender presentations: young male therapist, young female therapist, middle-aged male therapist, middle-aged female therapist, older male therapist, and older female therapist. Results showed statistically significant differences in selection of therapists based on a variety of demographics, higher scores on the Modern Sexism Scale, past therapy experience, and satisfaction with previous therapy. Future research should look into qualitative interviewing to determine why certain people chose certain pictures more specifically.