These results provide support for treatment emphasis on helping clients reduce conflict among family members, improve dysfunctional relationships with peers, and replace deviant friendships with others that encourage treatment participation and conformance to social norms. Participants were assigned to either a schematic map or essay group. They first extracted information about their alcohol-related behavior patterns and then analyzed the patterns from the perspective of a counselor. Participants were asked to evaluate behavior patterns, in the form of maps or essays, which were presented either in the same form as they were extracted or were transposed to the other format. In both studies, assessment consisted of questionnaires that addressed the usefulness of the tools in the counseling process.
Schematic maps are potentially powerful tools for both self- and peer counseling.
For self-counseling, maps were preferred over traditional essay writing. In addition, the subjective reaction to maps as tools for peer counseling was positive. Client education levels and the effectiveness of node-link maps. Less educated mapping clients were less likely than their standard counterparts to have used drugs and to have engaged in criminal activities in the 6 months before the follow-up interview.