The Impact of Skills Training on Responses to the Disclosure of Mistreatment

Objective: Although disclosure of mistreatment can be beneficial, the effects of disclosure are largely contingent on the quality of responses received. An experimental design was used to evaluate a set of skills-training materials (STMs; Foynes & Freyd, 2010) designed to improve supportive responding to the disclosure of mistreatment experiences. Method: Dyads of university students and community members (N 110) were randomly assigned to condition (experimental or control) and role (discloser or listener). After completing a series of questionnaires, the “discloser” was asked to describe an experience of mistreatment not previously disclosed to the “listener.” Dyads completed postdisclosure questionnaires, reviewed a set of STMs regarding either healthy lifestyle improvements (control) or supportive listening techniques (experimental), and completed a quiz. A second experience of mistreatment was disclosed and a final set of questionnaires was completed. Results: Results indicated that listeners in the experimental condition demonstrated significantly fewer unsupportive behaviors than listeners in the control condition. Listeners who started with high levels of unsupportive behaviors benefitted the most from the STMs. Conclusions: The STMs developed for this study are relatively short in length, easy to administer, and informed by disclosers’ perceptions of supportive behaviors. Thus, these materials could serve as a preliminary step toward developing more effective ways of providing lay people with education on enhancing supportive listening behaviors.