Increasing the maintenance of self-control treatments through faded counselor contact and high information feedback

In many counseling studies, follow-up data indicate that clients have abandoned treatment procedures and their initial progress has deteriorated. The present experiment explored 2 procedures for enhancing treatment maintenance: fading counselor contact and increasing information feedback. 97 volunteer college students concerned about academic underachievement participated. A bibliocounseling system was employed involving 4 behavioral self-control groups, a study skills advice group, and a no-treatment control group. The design also included a no-contact control group of 21 nonvolunteers. Grade and questionnaire results showed faded contact was superior to steady contact for enhancing treatment maintenance. Increasing information feedback about treatment effectiveness did not affect maintenance. Self-control and study skills advice groups were superior to control groups. Results suggest that counselors should consider fading their contact with clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).