Counseling Outcome as a Function of Counselor Nationality for American Expatriate Clients

This study tested the proposition that national similarity between counselor and client results in improved counseling outcome. Using a repeated-measures, quasi-experimental design, eight female counselors (four Turkish, four American) saw 16 volunteer, expatriate female American clients for single, individual counseling sessions. Results indicated no differences on (a) clients’ and counselors’ ratings of working alliance and of progress on goals, or (b) clients’ ratings of utilization intent as a function of counselor nationality. Irrespective of nationality, clients’ ratings of working alliance were higher than their counselors. These results echo a trend suggesting that clients’ preferences for cultural/ethnic similarity dissipate as the research methodology approximates actual counseling sessions. Additionally, local mental health service providers may be a viable resource for expatriate Americans.     

Comparison of Client and Counsellor Satisfaction with Treatment Duration

Abstract

After termination of personal counselling at a large urban Canadian university, 72 subjects and their counsellors were asked to rate their satisfaction. The subjects were asked to rate to what extent the counselling had helped with the presenting problem, and with other secondary problems, and to rate their degree of overall satisfaction. Statistical analyses conducted to investigate the relationship among number of sessions attended and client and counsellor satisfaction, led to these results: clients who attended a brief number of sessions (1-3) reported no significant difference in satisfaction with the counselling compared to those who attended more sessions; and the majority of clients who had only one session were satisfied with their counselling; counsellors, however, were less satisfied overall with the briefer counselling process, and the author suggests that they were biased against it. The author recommends more research on this critical topic of counsellor expectations toward briefer treatment.     

A school-based feasibility study of method of levels: a novel form of client-led counselling

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and acceptability of a novel psychological therapy (Method of Levels) amongst adolescents experiencing psychological distress. An initial estimated effect size and a clinical significance analysis were undertaken which will help inform future studies. A case-series of 16 participants utilised the YP-CORE as a primary outcome measure. Data was collected at baseline, on completion of therapy (six months) and two and four months after completion of the therapy. Young people used a self-booking system to access sessions. Additionally, young people had full control over the content and length of the sessions. A total of 14 participants reported that the therapy was acceptable to them and 12 participants were retained for the entire course of the study. The self-booking system was successfully used with young people attending on average 6–8 sessions. Analysis of clinically significant change for the YP-CORE at therapy completion indicated that five students recovered and seven experienced no change; this was largely maintained at follow up. Effect size estimations were medium-to-large. Initial findings suggest that Method of Levels is a feasible and acceptable form of counselling for young people within the school setting. Moreover, positive preliminary effectiveness outcomes suggest that a randomised control study should be considered.     

观看武器图片对青少年攻击性认知的影响

以73名高中生为被试,采用武器图片和植物图片作为启动刺激,以攻击词汇和非攻击词汇作为目标词汇,采用语义分类任务,研究武器图片对青少年攻击性认知的影响。结果发现:(1)观看武器图片启动了高中生的攻击性认知;(2)武器图片对男生攻击性认知的启动有显著影响,但对女生攻击性认知的启动没有显著影响;(3)武器图片对中等攻击水平被试攻击性认知的启动有显著影响,但对高攻击水平被试和低攻击水平被试的攻击性认知启动没有显著影响。     

The Effects of Group Counselling on Classroom Behaviour and Self‐concept among Elementary School Learning Disabled Children

This study investigated the effects of participation in group counselling sessions on the classroom behaviour and self‐concept of learning disabled (LD) children in elementary school. Sixty LD children were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 30) and control (n= 30) conditions. Participants in the treatment group were divided into three groups and participated in group counselling sessions which met for approximately one hour per week for 10 weeks. Dependent measures included Acting Out and Distractibility from the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklistand Personal Self, Social Self, and Intellectual Self from the Primary Self‐Concept Inventory.Results indicated that participation in group counselling sessions improved behaviour in the classroom and enhanced some positive self‐evaluations (Social Self). The intervention appears to be beneficial in improving acting out and distractibility behaviours and one area of self‐concept.     

College students' views of male and female college teachers: Part I—Evidence from the social laboratory and experiments

A review of laboratory and experimental research on college students' preconceptions of male and female college teachers shows that, in the majority of studies, students' global evaluations of male and female college teachers as professionals were not different; in a minority of studies, however, male teachers received higher overall evaluations than did female teachers. For the most part, the perceptions and ratings of the two genders in most other areas either showed no differences or inconsistent differences across studies. Moreover, most studies found that male teachers and female teachers were not perceived differently by male and female students. Interaction effects found in a particular study between the teacher's gender and other factors (teacher's expressiveness, physical attractiveness, mode of teaching, academic field and the like) usually were not confirmed by findings in other studies. More studies found indications of students' perception of female teachers (compared to those of male teachers) being more heavily influenced by these other factors. Ratings of teachers were sometimes enhanced by gender-typical attributes and behaviors and sometimes by gender-atypical attributes and behaviors.     

Student Ratings and Professor Self-Ratings of College Teaching: Effects of Gender and Divisional Affiliation

Twenty female and 23 male professors at a liberal arts college participated along with their 803 undergraduate students in a questionnaire study of the effects of professor gender, student gender, and divisional affiliation on student ratings of professors and professor self-ratings. Students rated their professors on 26 questions tapping five teaching factors as well as overall teaching effectiveness. Professors rated themselves on the same questions as well as on nine exploratory ones. On student ratings, there were main effects for both professor gender (female professors were rated higher than male professors on the two interpersonal factors) and division (natural science courses were rated lowest on most factors). These patterns were qualified by significant interactions between professor gender and division. Although professor self-ratings varied by division, there were few significant correlations between professor self-ratings and students' ratings. Implications for future research are discussed.Appreciation goes to Laura Capotosto and Julie Phelan for their research assistance.Suzanne Montgomery is now at Widener Law School, Philadelphia, PA, USA.     

Exploring the effects of a 14 week person-centred counselling intervention with learning disabled children

Abstract

This study evaluates the effects of a person-centred counselling intervention on the learning disabled child's self-concept. The participants are children who attend a London borough school for moderate learning difficulties. The study is qualitative and incorporates two parts: (1) practitioner research via a 14 week person-centred counselling intervention; (2) exploration of teachers’ views of the child's self-concept via a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire. The study used person-centred art therapy as an adjunct to counselling. A projective technique was used to measure the child's self-concept.Three out of four child participants indicated an improved self-concept. However, only one out of four teachers’ questionnaires indicated a positive movement within the child. This article explores the difficulties encountered as well as highlighting positive paths, and supposes that the results support carrying out this research project over an extended period and with a larger research group.     

Counseling Services for Malaysian Gifted Students: An Initial Study

This is a preliminary study that was conducted in regard to 180 gifted students who attended the ‘Malaysian Gifted Centre’s School Holiday Camp’ in 2011. Data indicated that only about 7 % of the respondents had a tendency to seek a counsellor’s help to solve their problems, and the need for counselling services was higher among female than male students. It was also found that career counselling was the most preferred type of counselling service needed by the Malaysian gifted students. Findings from the study reveal five different elements that need consideration when providing counselling services for gifted students: counsellor personality, student issues, the therapeutic environment, approaches used by the counsellor, and the counsellor’s role.     

The effects of message theme,policy explicitness,and candidate gender

Female candidates are sometimes perceived as less competent than their male counterparts, especially in races for higher political offices, and research has indicated that female candidates can face tougher standards in establishing credibility. This study explores the effects of message theme and explicitness on the perceived competence ratings of female and male Congressional candidates. An experiment with 209 college students at the University of Florida was conducted in 1997 to investigate the relationship between candidate gender, message characteristics, and perceived competence of two hypothetical candidates, one female and one male. It was hypothesized that an explicit message on a stereotypically male policy area, crime, would be advantageous to female candidates. Message theme was found to be important for both the female and male candidates, but message explicitness was found to be important for the female candidate only.     

Assessing sex and career biases in screening candidates for a deanship: An experimental study

To test how sex biases operate in the screening of candidates for administrative positions, an experimental study was conducted to evaluate the contribution of gender and career pattern effects on candidates' ratings. Faculty from seven universities were asked in a task that was judged to be realistic to evaluate vitae of six candidates for a deanship of a college of arts and sciences. Experimental design permitted alteration of the vitae to change gender and career patterns. No significant difference was found in the ratings assigned to male and female candidates. Career break did have a significant effect; candidates with career breaks received higher ratings on the average than those without career breaks. There was no significant interaction of gender and career break. Three different ratings systems were used, but none interacted with either gender or career break. However, closer examination of screeners' ratings did suggest that career experience was evaluated in different ways for male and female candidates.     

Profanity as a Critical Variable in Counseling

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the use of profanity in counseling. Participants were randomly assigned to view one of three videotapes, two of which included profanity. The participants tended to give higher therapeutic ratings to sessions including both client-initiated and counselor-initiated profanity than to the session free of profanity. Results are presented in tabular form.     

Playing with popular culture – an ethnography of children's sociodramatic play in the classroom

This article explores how ethnography allows for an understanding of the way children are empowered through the use of popular culture during sociodramatic play. The study discussed was conducted in an inner-city Primary school in regional New South Wales, Australia. The participants were a composite fifth-to-sixth grade class, and the research focused on dramaturgical sessions. The methods were diverse, employing an ethnographic framework, including participant observations, performance and focus groups. The findings reveal that children have a shared knowledge of popular culture that is used during drama to create and perpetuate their own subversive subculture. This process is carried out through children's bricolage of popular texts and use of carnival-like humour. Overall, the article enriches understandings of how children collectively create cultures with their peers through the use of popular culture during improvised drama sessions in the classroom. The article further discusses the associated implications of these cultural processes for pedagogy.     

Survey of HIV/AIDS Clients in Botswana: Reactions to Supportive Counselling

A survey of HIV/AIDS clients in Botswana, Africa, all of whom were receiving supportive counselling, was conducted. A total of 328 volunteer clients from randomly selected sites completed the survey related to client perceptions of counselling helpfulness, outlook on life, satisfaction with goal setting in counselling, experience of social stigma, and acceptance by family and others. Overall, clients were very positive concerning the benefits received from counselling, their relationship with their counsellor, the goal setting process, their family/friends support system and their present quality of life. The majority of clients did, however, indicate some level of feeling stigmatized by being HIV-positive. Additional major findings indicated that clients with family incomes of less than 10 K pula per year (around US$1 k) were less positive about their counselling and related experiences than were those with higher levels of family income, with the exception of social stigma where lower family income was associated with less perceived social stigma. Clients reporting counselling sessions lasting more than 15 min were generally more positive in their reactions to counselling and related experiences than were clients reporting sessions typically lasting 15 min or less. A discussion of the findings, along with recommendations for areas needing further study and attention, is provided.     

College students' views of male and female college teachers: Part II—Evidence from students' evaluations of their classroom teachers

Although a majority of studies have found that male and female college teachers do not differ in the global ratings they receive from their students, when statistically significant differences are found, more of them favor women than men. Across studies, the average association between gender and overall evaluation, while favoring women (averager=+.02), is so small as to be insignificant in practical terms. Considering specific instructional dimensions of evaluations, female teachers receive very slightly higher ratings on their sensitivity to and concern with class level and progress than do men (averager=+.12). On other specific dimensions, men and women either do not differ or the differences are trivial in size (or, for two dimensions, while nontrivial, based on too few studies to be generalizable with any degree of certainty). Students tend to rate same-gendered teachers a little higher than opposite-gendered teachers. Although interaction effects on evaluations have also been found between gender of teacher and other factors (academic rank of the teacher, academic area, class level of the course, difficulty of the teacher or course, and the teacher's pedagogical orientation or personality characteristics), they are inconsistent across studies. Moreover, ratings of teachers are sometimes enhanced by gender-typical, and sometimes by gender-atypical, attributes, behaviors, and positions. The findings are discussed in terms of the expectations or demands of students and whether or not student ratings are biased by the gender of the teacher.     

The jigsaw technique and self-efficacy of vocational training students: a practice report

Can teenagers’ self-efficacy be improved in a short time? Previous research has shown the positive effect of cooperative learning methods, including “jigsaw classrooms” (Aronson and Patnoe, 1997), on various outcomes (e.g., the liking of school, self-esteem, and reduction of prejudices). The present practice report investigated the effects of jigsaw technique in boosting the self-efficacy of students enrolled in a vocational curriculum. Over a period of four sessions, 33 male participants studied school materials either in jigsaw groups or in a traditional class (individual work). Their academic self-efficacy in math and French was measured before and after treatment. Results indicated that students’ self-efficacy increased after the four sessions, but only in the jigsaw group. This report provides additional evidence supporting the benefit of jigsaw classrooms based on a different outcome than the one used in previous research—namely, self-efficacy—and among a particular population—namely, vocational trainees. Implications for classroom practice are discussed. In particular, the present practice report demonstrates that implementing the jigsaw approach in classrooms might be an effective tool for enhancing the quality of vocational students’ school experience.     

Effects of Tutor‐Tutee Intimacy,Tutoring Conditions and Tutor Background on College Student Tutor Satisfaction

Path analysis was used to examine the effects of tutor‐tutee intimacy, tutoring conditions and background variables on overall tutor satisfaction, as well on specific satisfaction from achievements, rewards, and relationships. University student tutors (n = 472), who worked with younger children under the auspices of the PERACH Project in Israel, participated in the study. Results revealed higher satisfaction among tutors who reported greater intimacy with tutees and who were able to hold tutorial sessions without difficulty. More intimate tutoring relations were found when pairs were matched by ethnicity, when telephone contact with the tutee was easy, when sessions were easily held, and for female same‐sex pairs.