Job interview training with rehabilitation clients: A comparison of videotape and role-playing procedures.

Abstract

Nineteen clients at a rehabilitation center were randomly assigned to one of three treatments designed to improve job interview behavior. Judges' ratings indicated that subjects in a videotape-feedback condition and those in a roleplaying condition improved significantly more than those in an attentionplacebo control group but that the two experimental groups did not differ from each other. Although the use of behavior therapy techniques, such as modeling and role playing, has been advocated by substantial numbers of practitioners and theorists (Bandura, 1969; Yates, 1970), the use and implementation of these techniques have generally been restricted to populations of college students or clients referred to psychologists for therapy. These techniques have rarely been employed with populations of physically or mentally handicapped clients, such as those attending a rehabilitation center, even though many of these clients are obviously deficient in the target social skills that such procedures are designed to train. One such important skill—appropriate interview behavior—which was investigated in the present study has generally been ignored by the rehabilitation counselor in favor of the counselor assuming the responsibility for actual job placement. While a variety of different procedures could be used to train job interview behavior, research regarding the efficacy of various methods has been minimal, with the literature containing no reports of comparisons among different treatment approaches. Prazak (1969) has, however, developed an assessment model of five critical areas of interview behavior for a rehabilitation center population. These five areas include the following: ability to explain skills, ability to answer problem questions, appropriate appearance and mannerisms, enthusiasm, and opening and closing the interview. This was the assessment model adopted for use in the present investigation.