Shift counselor education research and selection from personality traits to identifiable, trainable counselor skills and behaviors¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The review recommends redirecting research and training away from the search for an ideal counselor personality toward specific behaviors, skills, and interactions related to counseling outcome. It endorses Mosher's call for a change in emphasis "from what the counselor is to what he can perform," and points to skills-based training programs such as Carkhuff's systematic skill teaching and Ivey's microcounseling, which teaches interviewer behaviors that can be behaviorally defined, described in a manual, and modeled on videotape.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Necessary counseling skills must first be identified and operationally defined so training can target them

Constraints¶

• The review notes continued research is needed to define more precisely the performance parameters that affect counseling outcome

Target Learners¶

• counselor trainees and counselor education programs

Target Learning Goals¶

• acquisition of specific, behaviorally defined interviewing and counseling skills

Claims¶

• 16PF-derived predicted-effectiveness indices correlate with supervisor and client ratings (.41, .87), but the review judges use of the 16PF for trainee selection premature [+W]
• Most investigated counselor personality variables are not significantly related to effectiveness criteria, and variables significant in one study often show contrary results when re-investigated [+W]
• Clients of high-facilitative counselors engage in significantly more self-exploration than clients of low-facilitative counselors [+W]
• Self-actualization (POI) correlates of rated counseling performance reported by Foulds could not be confirmed on replication [+W]
• Standardized test batteries are poor predictors of counselor trainee success [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Shift counselor education research and training emphasis from what the counselor is to what the counselor can perform

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Rowe, Wayne; Murphy, Harry B.; De Csipkes, Robert A. (1975). The Relationship of Counselor Characteristics and Counseling Effectiveness. Review of Educational Research, 45(2). https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543045002231