Attitudes of psychology students toward expressive therapies

There is little knowledge about the attitudes toward unconventional options among psychology students. The present study aimed to investigate different factors that may take part in influencing their attitudes toward expressive therapies. The study focused on gender and nationality differences, the relationship between attitude, knowledge, and behavior, and the effects of the personality trait openness to experience. An Internet-based survey with 156 American and 262 Hungarian students showed almost 80% positive attitude that was found to be related to perceived knowledge and willingness to engage in further training or future use of these therapies. Openness to experience strongly correlated with a more positive attitude. While culture did not influence the level of attitude, gender was a significant predictor in both nationality groups, with women being more positive toward expressive therapy. In the Hungarian sample, the number of years spent in education could be identified as a predictor for the level of knowledge.