Development of Affiliative Intersubjectivity and Mindfulness in Counselor–Client Collaborative Discourses
Beata M. Latawiec, Jody Joanne Fiorini, Kali Bowman
The Journal of Humanistic Counseling November 3, 2026 DOI: 10.1002/johc.70070 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Quasi-experimental mixed-methods study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 52 |
| Population | Counselor-in-training–client dyadic sessions |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The authors report that over a counseling-techniques course, trainees' discourse shifted away from directive prompting and emphatic intonation toward affiliative disclosure, evidential justification, and attention to client feelings, while clients showed less evaluative restraint, greater positivity, and increased discourse quantity and quality. They interpret these shifts as reflecting mindful intersubjectivity, affiliative empathy, and collaborative alliance, and link them to affinity, empathic communion, and metacognitive instruction with dyadic practice. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT From a linguistic and humanistic frame that treats language as a window onto mind and relationship, this quasi‐experimental mixed‐methods study examines 52 counselor‐in‐training (CIT)–client dyadic sessions as the site where mindful intersubjectivity, affiliative empathy, and collaborative alliance are created in discourse. Over a metacognitively rich counseling‐techniques course, pretest–posttest analyses of metadiscourse with sentiments documented CITs’ mindful development. Reductions in directive prompting and emphatic intonation supported client autonomy and therapeutic alliance, whereas increases in affiliative disclosure, evidential justification, and attention to client feelings enhanced relational attunement and motivational‐interviewing evocation. Clients exhibited less evaluative restraint, greater positivity and evidentiality, and increased discourse quantity and quality—indicating greater openness. Clients’ mirroring of CIT mindful features reflected concerted alignment toward person‐centered communication. These patterns were associated with affinity, empathic communion, and metacognitive instruction with dyadic practice. The study offers linguistic tools for supervision and humanistic pedagogy to strengthen CIT self‐efficacy and client change.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 2
- Building a foundation in self‐awareness: Genetic counseling students’ experiences with self‐care, reflection, and mindfulness Journal of Genetic Counseling December 2, 2021
- Mindfulness-based psychotherapies: a review of conceptual foundations, empirical evidence and practical considerations. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry April 2006