The Effects of Node-link Mapping on Mandated Substance Abuse Treatment Clients

Mandated substance abuse treatment clients may not be internally motivated to change. They have been described by counselors as resistant to treatment. It is important for counselors to explore techniques that will increase mandated clients' participation in treatment and internal motivation for change. A strong therapeutic relationship and positive client perceptions of treatment are also predictive of positive treatment outcomes. Node-link mapping has been found to increase client motivation, rapport, participation, and positive perceptions of treatment. Node-link mapping is a technique which takes a counseling session and makes a pictorial diagram of it using a series of nodes (boxes) and links (lines) connecting the nodes. Within the nodes are the main ideas of the counseling session, and the links illustrate the relationship between the ideas. Forty mandated substance abuse treatment clients were divided into two groups: mapping enhanced group and standard counseling group. Ten counselors were recruited to lead the two therapy groups. Participants in the mapping group received six weeks of counseling using node-link mapping. Participants in the standard counseling group received six weeks of counseling without mapping. The Texas Christian University-Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment (TCU-LEST) instrument and the Help Needed survey were used to test for significant differences between the groups. In addition, the counselors participating in the node-link mapping group were asked to complete the Counselor Reactions to Node-link Mapping survey. A series of Mann-Whitney U's were used for data analysis. Although all of the counselors reported favorable attitudes toward rode-link mapping, no statistically significant differences were found between the groups.