Counselors’ Perceived Bias In Clients’ Age And Social Class:A Mixed Methods Study

In the next 10-20 years,China will enter the peak of population aging and an all-round well-off era.The number of elderly people with "money,leisure and pain" will increase.Previous studies have shown that counselors have negative stereotypes and biases toward lower social class clients and older clients,which will affect the process and effect of psychological counseling.In the cultural context of China,no research has explored the influence of social class and age on counselors and psychological counseling.Can psychological counselors truly treat clients of different ages and social classes equally and without discrimination? In today’s era of aging population and widening gap between rich and poor,the study of this issue is urgent.In order to deeply understand whether and how the age and social class of clients affect the perception and consultation process of counselors,this study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed methods design.quantitative data were collected and analyzed for initial exploration,and qualitative research was used to explain,expand and supplement the results of quantitative research.The specific research is as follows:Study Ⅰ: A quasi-experimental design of 2(higher class vs lower class)x 2(younger vs older)was used to examine whether the age and social class information of the client affected the counselors’ perceptions of depression,anxiety,and well-being and their willingness to work.The data of 301 Chinese mental health service practitioners showed that in the perception of the counselors,compared with the high-class clients,the low-class clients had lower happiness,and the counselors had lower willingness to work with them.However,the counselors did not give different ratings to the depression and anxiety levels of the clients according to their different classes.It also does not perceive different levels of depression,anxiety,happiness,or differences in the willingness to work because of the different ages of the clients.Study Ⅱ: Based on the known significant or insignificant results of Study I,we conducted a semi-structured interview with 15 counselors with experience in geriatric counseling based on the approach of constructivist grounded theory to further understand the internal thinking process and reaction process of counselors when faced with information on the age and social class of clients.After a spiraling coding process,the researchers finally constructed three theoretical models based on axial coding: the image model of the elderly client in the eyes of the consultant,the image-strategy choice model of the consultant,and the attitude-effect model of both consultants and clients.The results showed that: 1)Most of the perceived images of elderly visits were negative,which may be related to internalized negative age stereotypes and prejudices;2)The social class of the elderly clients is one of the most influential factors for the choice of counseling strategies.In addition,the aging degree of the elderly clients,openness and social support can also affect the choice of counseling strategies.3)Although the positive attitudes of the clients may lead to satisfactory counseling results,the pathetic and suspicious attitudes of the counselors may indicate a kind of age bias and discrimination.In summary,the conclusion is that current Chinese counselors are not able to treat clients of different ages and social classes equally and without discrimination,which will bring some risks to the counseling process.Therefore,it is necessary for counselors to enhance their awareness and reflection on the potential bias of clients’ age and social class.This study is helpful to promote the theoretical exploration of multicultural counseling and the formulation of medical insurance policies for psychological counseling for the low class and the elderly.