This study investigated the effect of client gender on several aspects of clinical decision-making processes and clinical judgement when a client presented with a combination of depressive and alcohol-dependent symptoms. Forty-four male and 44 female clinicians, who came from various mental health disciplines (i.e., psychology, social work, counseling, nursing, and psychiatry), volunteered to participate as subjects.
The subjects were assigned to hear one of four audiotapes (two male tapes and two female tapes) in which mock clients gave the same initial presentation of symptoms and problems. After listening to the tapes, the clinicians were asked to engage in a number of tasks related to clinical judgement including the following: recall, question generation, diagnosis, attribution of etiological factors, prognostic judgements, and therapeutic recommendations of modality, style and length of treatment.
These results revealed that there were only significant client gender main effects for recommendations for therapeutic modality. Those clinicians who did not recommend individual therapy were most likely to recommend the male clients for group therapy and to recommend the female clients for marital therapy or medication evaluation. Also, there were significant interactions involving client gender by tape version and clinician gender by tape version.
It seems that client gender may not be a predominating influence for the clinical decision-making processes of recall, question generation, and diagnosis when a client presents with objective and behaviorally-anchored symptoms. However, client gender may play a significant role in the outcome decision of recommended therapeutic intervention. The complex interactions between client gender and clinician gender with the tape version suggest that subtle, vocal differences between the four actors influenced clinicians' judgements, and this phenomenon needs further investigation.
","abstract_html":"<p>This study investigated the effect of client gender on several aspects of clinical decision-making processes and clinical judgement when a client presented with a combination of depressive and alcohol-dependent symptoms. Forty-four male and 44 female clinicians, who came from various mental health disciplines (i.e., psychology, social work, counseling, nursing, and psychiatry), volunteered to participate as subjects.</p> <p>The subjects were assigned to hear one of four audiotapes (two male tapes and two female tapes) in which mock clients gave the same initial presentation of symptoms and problems. After listening to the tapes, the clinicians were asked to engage in a number of tasks related to clinical judgement including the following: recall, question generation, diagnosis, attribution of etiological factors, prognostic judgements, and therapeutic recommendations of modality, style and length of treatment.</p> <p>These results revealed that there were only significant client gender main effects for recommendations for therapeutic modality. Those clinicians who did not recommend individual therapy were most likely to recommend the male clients for group therapy and to recommend the female clients for marital therapy or medication evaluation. Also, there were significant interactions involving client gender by tape version and clinician gender by tape version.</p> <p>It seems that client gender may not be a predominating influence for the clinical decision-making processes of recall, question generation, and diagnosis when a client presents with objective and behaviorally-anchored symptoms. However, client gender may play a significant role in the outcome decision of recommended therapeutic intervention. The complex interactions between client gender and clinician gender with the tape version suggest that subtle, vocal differences between the four actors influenced clinicians' judgements, and this phenomenon needs further investigation.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["French, Jodi L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Barbara A. Winstead","Michael Stutts","Robin J. Lewis","J. D. Ball","Deanna Krauss-Zeilmann"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1991,"date_issued":"1991-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"1991-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:35:15Z","subjects":["Clinical judgment","Depression","Symptoms","Decision making","Clinical Psychology","Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds/272","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Barbara A. Winstead","Michael Stutts","Robin J. Lewis","J. D. Ball","Deanna Krauss-Zeilmann"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["French, Jodi L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-10-04T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Clinical judgment","Depression","Symptoms","Decision making","Clinical Psychology","Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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The subjects were assigned to hear one of four audiotapes (two male tapes and two female tapes) in which mock clients gave the same initial presentation of symptoms and problems. After listening to the tapes, the clinicians were asked to engage in a number of tasks related to clinical judgement including the following: recall, question generation, diagnosis, attribution of etiological factors, prognostic judgements, and therapeutic recommendations of modality, style and length of treatment.
These results revealed that there were only significant client gender main effects for recommendations for therapeutic modality. Those clinicians who did not recommend individual therapy were most likely to recommend the male clients for group therapy and to recommend the female clients for marital therapy or medication evaluation. Also, there were significant interactions involving client gender by tape version and clinician gender by tape version.
It seems that client gender may not be a predominating influence for the clinical decision-making processes of recall, question generation, and diagnosis when a client presents with objective and behaviorally-anchored symptoms. However, client gender may play a significant role in the outcome decision of recommended therapeutic intervention. The complex interactions between client gender and clinician gender with the tape version suggest that subtle, vocal differences between the four actors influenced clinicians' judgements, and this phenomenon needs further investigation.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Gender Effects on Recall, Clinical Judgement and Treatment Recommendations for a Combination of Major Depression and Alcohol Dependence Symptoms"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Barbara A. Winstead","Michael Stutts","Robin J. Lewis","J. D. Ball","Deanna Krauss-Zeilmann"],"dc:creator":["French, Jodi L."],"dc:date.available":["2019-10-04T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study investigated the effect of client gender on several aspects of clinical decision-making processes and clinical judgement when a client presented with a combination of depressive and alcohol-dependent symptoms. Forty-four male and 44 female clinicians, who came from various mental health disciplines (i.e., psychology, social work, counseling, nursing, and psychiatry), volunteered to participate as subjects.
The subjects were assigned to hear one of four audiotapes (two male tapes and two female tapes) in which mock clients gave the same initial presentation of symptoms and problems. After listening to the tapes, the clinicians were asked to engage in a number of tasks related to clinical judgement including the following: recall, question generation, diagnosis, attribution of etiological factors, prognostic judgements, and therapeutic recommendations of modality, style and length of treatment.
These results revealed that there were only significant client gender main effects for recommendations for therapeutic modality. Those clinicians who did not recommend individual therapy were most likely to recommend the male clients for group therapy and to recommend the female clients for marital therapy or medication evaluation. Also, there were significant interactions involving client gender by tape version and clinician gender by tape version.
It seems that client gender may not be a predominating influence for the clinical decision-making processes of recall, question generation, and diagnosis when a client presents with objective and behaviorally-anchored symptoms. However, client gender may play a significant role in the outcome decision of recommended therapeutic intervention. The complex interactions between client gender and clinician gender with the tape version suggest that subtle, vocal differences between the four actors influenced clinicians' judgements, and this phenomenon needs further investigation.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds/272"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
"],"dc:subject":["Clinical judgment","Depression","Symptoms","Decision making","Clinical Psychology","Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy"],"dc:title":["Gender Effects on Recall, Clinical Judgement and Treatment Recommendations for a Combination of Major Depression and Alcohol Dependence Symptoms"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:35:15Z"}