A Study of the Effects of Group Sensitivity Training with Student Counselor-Consultants

The use of group sensitivity training within a counselor education program was studied. It was hypothesized that participation would have a positive effect on participant self-concept, would increase the effectiveness of the participants in emitting the core dimensions of empathy, warmth, and genuineness during counseling, and would make the participants more effective in offering the core dimensions in counseling than would be members of a control group who did not receive such training. Members of a National Defense Education Act Institute for Counselor-Consultants were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. Measurements consisted of a self-report on self-concept and independent ratings of audiotapes based upon the core dimensions. Analysis of the data did not reveal significant findings, thus the hypotheses were not supported.