Positive regard.

This article reviews the research on the association between therapists' provision of positive regard and therapeutic outcome. Rogers' attempts to define the concept of positive regard are noted and two examples of positive regard are presented. A new meta-analysis, focusing on 18 studies, yielded an aggregate effect size of .27 (CI = .16, .38; p < .000; k = 18; N = 1067), indicating that positive regard has a moderate association with psychotherapy outcomes; like many other relational factors, it is a significant but not exhaustive part of the process-outcome equation. Therapists' provision of positive regard is strongly indicated in practice; at a minimum, it provides the basis for other mutative interventions.