Attitudes and use of homework assignments in therapy: A survey of German psychotherapists

There has been continued empirical research on the role of homework assignments in psychotherapy, but little is known about their use in clinical practice. Although attitudes are an important factor in determining whether practitioners use homework assignments, existing data is limited to the frequency and types of assignments used in therapy. One hundred and forty German psychologists were surveyed regarding their use of and attitudes towards homework assignments. Practitioners reported a variety of attitudes regarding the effects of homework on treatment outcome, the process of integrating homework into therapy and patient compliance with homework. We suggest that consideration should be given to therapist attitudes (or beliefs) in future conceptual or empirical work designed to examine homework effects in psychotherapy. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.