Relationship Between Counselor and Client Perceptions of Psychological Problems and Counseling Outcomes

This study examined congruence levels between client and counselor beliefs about psychological problems and its impact on counseling outcomes. Clients and counselors endorsed differing views for causation and treatment of psychological problems. Counseling outcomes were unaffected by congruence levels. Practical implications for college counseling staff are provided.     

Helping Counselors Minimize Client Reluctance

A review of work settings in which counselors are employed suggests that almost all counselors work with a number of reluctant clients. Counselor education, however, is largely directed toward preparing counselors to work with voluntary clients. This article reviews some of the bases of client reluctance, certain motivational principles appropriate to counselor practice, myths associated with counselor preparation, and some suggestions of existing techniques that may be helpful with reluctant clients.     

The Relationship Between Counselors’ Multicultural Counseling Competence and Poverty Beliefs

The authors explored the relationship between counselors’ multicultural counseling competence (MCC), poverty beliefs, and select demographic factors. Results of hierarchical linear regressions indicate that MCC is predictive of counselor individualistic and structural poverty beliefs. Implications for counselor multicultural training and immersion and future research directions are included.     

The Relationship Between Retention and College Counseling for High‐Risk Students

The author used an archival study to explore the relationship between college counseling and retention. The cohort for this study was a college's 2006 class of full‐time, 1st‐year students (N = 429). The results of chi‐square analyses and regression analyses indicated (a) a significant difference in retention between high‐risk and low‐risk students who used counseling services (CS) and (b) that a student's risk for dropout did not vary significantly over time based on risk level or CS use.     

The Relationship of Client Stages of Change to Working Alliance and Outcome in Short‐Term Counseling

This study evaluated the relationship of J. O. Prochaska's (1984; J. O. Prochaska & C. C. DiClemente, 1992) transtheoretical model of change with the process and outcome of short‐term counseling in college help seekers. Participants completed measures of readiness to change, psychological symptoms, and working alliance. Clients in the precontemplation stage evaluated the working alliance less favorably and experienced less improvement regarding symptoms than clients in other stages. Counselor working alliance did not differ as a function of clients' stage of change.     

The Coached Client as a Research and Training Resource in Counseling

Coached client methodology can be an important resource in the education of student counselors by simulating a counseling experience with a standard client stimulus before actual counseling is begun. The authors carried out the following procedures for establishing and maintaining standard client consistency: (a) development of a general concept of the content of the client's role; (b) incorporation of specific information about the coached client in a cumulative folder to be used by the counselor; (c) development of specific client statements as essential aspects of the client's role; (d) training the coached client to incorporate all essential statements into his role; (e) assessment of client consistency across interviews with different counselors. Research applications of coached client methodology were discussed as well as its use by schools in the hiring of counselors. Editor Abstract     

Counseling on Campus: Client Persistence and Progress

Two related studies addressed college students' persistence and progress in psychotherapy. In Study 1, using emotional health variables assessed at intake, students who persisted in counseling and demonstrated clinical improvement were compared with those who either did not return for their first session or who did return but stopped before improvement. Findings showed that those counseling completers, compared with the other two groups, reported at intake significantly higher levels of confidence that therapy will help, degree of well-being, and levels of life functioning. Study 2, focusing on students who received at least eight counseling sessions, found improvement on variables reflecting distress and life functioning, with students who rated themselves highly distressed at intake reporting the most benefit. The findings suggest approaches to improve realistic expectations for and engagement in counseling.     

论高校心理咨询中的"咨访代沟"问题

本文在分析高校心理咨询中“咨访代沟”具体表现、总体特征的基础上,探讨了该问题存在的主要原因及对策思路。认为“咨访代沟”问题是影响咨询关系建立的重要因素;关注“咨访代沟”有助于提高当前高校心理咨询的有效性。     

Counselor Self-Awareness and Counseling Effectiveness

It has been assumed that counselor self-awareness is important to counseling effectiveness. The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were differences in perceived effectiveness between counselors who said they related self-awareness to their counseling role and counselors who believed self-awareness was unrelated to their role. Those counselors who did not relate self-awareness to counseling received higher client ratings of effectiveness than did counselors who related self-awareness.     

Counselor Comfort,Counseling Climate,and Client Satisfaction: Client Ratings and Academic Improvement

This study examined client perceptions of counselor comfort, counseling climate, and client satisfaction as measured by the CEI relative to counselors described as high-effective or low-effective in terms of changes in client academic performance before and after group counseling. The results indicated that the client's perception of the comfort of the counselor in a group setting is significantly related to counselor effectiveness as measured by GPA change. The overall counseling climate and the client's estimate of his satisfaction were found not to be related to counselor effectiveness.     

Relationship Between the Client's Moral Development Level and Empathy of the Counseling Student

Empathic responses of counseling students with high and low moral development were compared. Both groups responded more empathically to a client whose moral development was lower than their own.     

The Effects of Two Precounseling Orientation Presentations on Client Expectations of Counseling

Two precounseling orientation presentations for prospective clients were examined in this study: a verbal presentation and a researcher-developed audiovisual presentation delivered on a color television monitor. The findings were based on a pretest and posttest assessment of client expectations; they indicated that the audiovisual presentation significantly enhanced expectations that would focus on affective variables. The verbal approach, however, had no effect on expectations.     

Developing Questioning Effectiveness in Counseling

A model based on a hierarchy of questioning skills in counseling situations was developed to facilitate training of counseling students. This model is designed to help counseling students understand the impact of their questions on clients using the various stages in the counseling process as a framework. It is based on a synthesis of current theoretical views on the role and effects of questions in the counseling process. The model helps to identify question types and to assess their effectiveness along a continuum. Implications concerning the mechanisms through which effective questions can be taught are discussed in terms of present theoretical assumptions and the need for developing empirical support for the model.     

The Relationship Between Emotional Openness and the Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Counseling of English-Speaking Caribbean College Students

This study investigated the impact of emotional openness on attitudes towards seeking professional counseling of 500 English-speaking Caribbean college students, some living in the U.S. and others resident in the Caribbean. Length of stay in the U.S. was included as a potentially influential variable. Results indicated that emotional openness is a statistically significant predictor of the attitudes of Caribbean college students in general towards seeking professional counseling, while, where relevant, length of stay in the U.S. was not. Implications for university counselors both in the Caribbean and the U.S. are discussed.     

Toward an Information-Processing Theory of Client Change in Counseling

A model of the cognitive structures and processes thought to compose the human information-processing system is presented. Possible difficulties in processing information are discussed because these may contribute to client problems and concerns. Recent work in applying understandings, from human information processing to an elucidation of client change in counseling, is reviewed. Information-processing models of client-centered and rational-emotive counseling are constructed that relate counseling skills and strategies employed in these approaches to hypothesized client cognitive changes. An integrated view of client cognitive change in counseling also is presented. Possible directions for research and theorizing in counseling and counselor education from the perspective of human information processing are mentioned briefly.