Helpful and nonhelpful events in brief counseling interviews: An empirical taxonomy.

Abstract

Volunteer students' descriptions of the immediate therapeutic impact of the most and least helpful counselor responses in 24 brief one-session helping interviews provided the basis for an empirical taxonomy of change events in counseling. Eighty-six helpful and 70 nonhelpful counselor responses were identified and described by students and clustered by independent judges. These responses were rated for counselor response modes or intentions by raters, counselors, and students. Cluster analyses identified eight kinds of helpful events grouped into two “superclusters” that correspond to task and interpersonal aspects of helping interactions. The predominant cluster in the Task supercluster was New Perspective; the predominant cluster in the Interpersonal supercluster was Understanding. Six kinds of nonhelpful events were identified, the most common being Misperception, Negative Counselor Reaction, and Unwanted Responsibility. Event types were described in terms of the counselor actions typically associated with them.