The impact of skills training on responses to the disclosure of mistreatment.

Objective: Although disclosure of mistreatment can be beneficial, the effects of dis-closure 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 unsup-portive 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.