Phototherapy to enhance self-disclosure and client-therapist alliance in an intake interview with ethiopian immigrants to Israel

This study investigated phototherapy as a technique to increase self-disclosure and interviewer-interviewee alliance in an intake interview conducted in 2 meetings with Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. Forty participants were assigned in equal numbers to an experimental (phototherapy) group and a control group. All semistructured interviews were conducted by 1 professional counselor at a learning center, recorded, and analyzed by 2 independent raters. Results indicate a higher level of self-disclosure (on both simple and intimate levels) in the phototherapy group. Client-counselor alliance (emotional contact) tended to be higher in the experimental group, but the significance was only marginal. A positive relationship between self-disclosure and working alliance was revealed only with the expression of feelings and the sharing of issues related to work.