Counseling Skills Course Research Articles

Enhancing Multicultural Awareness: Understanding the Effect of Community Immersion Assignments in An Online Counseling Skills Course

Counselor education programs provide counselors-in-training (CITs) with courses focused on counseling skill development to increase the CITs’ interpersonal counseling abilities and increase multicultural awareness. The research study presents findings from the author’s exploration of online students’ experiences in an experiential community immersion assignment. For analysis, the data was divided into three timeframes: (a) pre-experience, (b) active-experience, and (c) post-experience. In the pre-experience timeframe two themes emerged: (a) overwhelming nervousness and (b) judgmental thoughts. In the active-experience timeframe two themes emerged: (a) welcoming environment and (b) normalization of the minority population. During the post-experience reflections three common themes emerged: (a) similarities between groups, (b) motivation to create relationships, and (c) increased empathy. The study concluded the participants reported an overall increase in multicultural awareness through their community immersion experiences.

Development of a Structured Communication and Counseling Skills Course for Pharmacy Students: A Simulation-based Approach

We aimed to develop a structured communication and counseling education program to improve pharmacy students' skills. Then, we objectively assessed this program by using simulated patients. The program aims to improve pharmacy students' communication and counseling skills by using a patient-centered approach. The study was conducted in three stages. First, a "Pharmacist-Patient Communication and Counseling Skills" education program was developed. Second, this program was implemented for pharmacy students. Third, the program was tested on volunteer students and evaluated for its effectiveness. The education program had a very large effect (Cohen's dz: 6.074) on improving students' communication and counseling skills, especially their empathy skills. The education program achieved its goals. After demonstrating the program's success, a course was added to the pharmacy curriculum, and a communication skills laboratory was established in the school.

Nonprofessional Peer Support to Improve Mental Health: Randomized Trial of a Scalable Web-Based Peer Counseling Course.

BackgroundMillions of people worldwide are underserved by the mental health care system. Indeed, most mental health problems go untreated, often because of resource constraints (eg, limited provider availability and cost) or lack of interest or faith in professional help. Furthermore, subclinical symptoms and chronic stress in the absence of a mental illness diagnosis often go unaddressed, despite their substantial health impact. Innovative and scalable treatment delivery methods are needed to supplement traditional therapies to fill these gaps in the mental health care system.ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate whether a self-guided web-based course can teach pairs of nonprofessional peers to deliver psychological support to each other.MethodsIn this experimental study, a community sample of 30 dyads (60 participants, mostly friends), many of whom presented with mild to moderate psychological distress, were recruited to complete a web-based counseling skills course. Dyads were randomized to either immediate or delayed access to training. Before and after training, dyads were recorded taking turns discussing stressors. Participants’ skills in the helper role were assessed before and after taking the course: the first author and a team of trained research assistants coded recordings for the presence of specific counseling behaviors. When in the client role, participants rated the session on helpfulness in resolving their stressors and supportiveness of their peers. We hypothesized that participants would increase the use of skills taught by the course and decrease the use of skills discouraged by the course, would increase their overall adherence to the guidelines taught in the course, and would perceive posttraining counseling sessions as more helpful and their peers as more supportive.ResultsThe course had large effects on most helper-role speech behaviors: helpers decreased total speaking time, used more restatements, made fewer efforts to influence the speaker, and decreased self-focused and off-topic utterances (ds=0.8-1.6). When rating the portion of the session in which they served as clients, participants indicated that they made more progress in addressing their stressors during posttraining counseling sessions compared with pretraining sessions (d=1.1), but they did not report substantive changes in feelings of closeness and supportiveness of their peers (d=0.3).ConclusionsThe results provide proof of concept that nonprofessionals can learn basic counseling skills from a scalable web-based course. The course serves as a promising model for the development of web-based counseling skills training, which could provide accessible mental health support to some of those underserved by traditional psychotherapy.

성찰일지를 통한 상담전문가 발달 경험: 융합적 교육방법의 상담실습 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to explore undergraduate students' professional growth experiences as a novice counselor through reflective journal writing. Study participants were six students who completed the counseling skills course. The analysis was done on their weekly reflective journals using Colaizzi's phenomenological qualitative method. As a result, 11 sub-categories and 3 categories were emerged: increasing recognition and knowledge regarding counseling, being troubled and frustrated due to one's inexperiences of counseling, trying to overcome frustration toward professional counselors. This study revealed counseling major undergraduate students' professional development experiences and can be utilized in counseling training program development in the future.

상담실습 수업을 통한 대학생들의 자기성장 경험 연구 : 융합적 교육방법을 활용한 수업사례 연구

본 연구의 목적은 상담실습 수업을 통해 대학생들이 어떠한 자기성장의 경험을 하는지 탐색하는데 있다. 연구 참여자는 모 대학에서 상담실습 수업 수강을 완료한 7명의 대학생이었으며 이들이 수업 중 작성한 수업경험 성찰 저널을 Colaizzi의 현상학적 질적 연구 방법을 활용하여 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 26개의 주제와 11개의 주제군이 도출되었다: 내담자에게 내가 투영됨, 대인관계 역동을 탐색함, 자신의 감정에 접근함, 내가 모르던 나를 발견함, 과거와 현재의 연결고리를 살펴봄, 자기직면으로 인한 어려움을 체험함, 상담자의 역할을 하는 것에 대해 걱정함, 성장에 대한 동기가 높아짐, 자기 인식의 가치를 발견함, 새로운 행동을 시도함, 나와 타인에 대한 수용의 폭이 넓어짐. 이와 같이, 대학생들은 상담실습 수업을 통해 다각적인 자기성장을 경험하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 상담자 전문성 발달에 있어 그동안 주목 받지 못했던 자기성장의 측면을 풍성하게 조명해 주었다는데 의의가 있으며 추후 상담자의 자기성장을 체계적으로 촉진할 수 있는 전인적인 상담실습 프로그램의 개발에 필요한 기초적 자료로 활용될 수 있다. The purpose of this study is to explore undergraduate students' self-growth experiences in a counseling skills training course. Participants of this study were seven students who completed the counseling skills course in a university. The analysis was done on the weekly reflective journals they had written during the course using Colaizzi's phenomenological qualitative method. As a result, 26 themes and 11 theme clusters which emerged: projecting oneself onto client, exploring interpersonal dynamics, approaching one's emotions, discovering oneself that he was not conscious of, examining connection between the present and the past, experiencing difficulties due to facing self, feeling concerned about performing a role as counselor, increasing growth motive, finding value of self-awareness, trying new actions, expanding acceptance of oneself and others. Likewise, undergraduate students were experiencing self-growth in a variety of aspects. This study has implications in that it shed a rich light on the self-growth of a counselor that has not received much attention so far. In the future, this study can be utilized in the development of holistic counseling training programs that would systematically facilitate counselors' self-growth.

The Client Role in a Pre-Practicum Counseling Skills Course

This study explored the experience and process of counselors in training enacting the client role and sharing “real life” experiences during role-playing exercises in a pre-practicum skills course. Using Charmaz’ Grounded Theory, main themes and processes were identified and explored. Through multiple individual interviews and a final focus group, the participants described how the experience facilitated their development of empathy for the client experience. The findings suggest a possible link between the development of empathy for the client experience and sharing “real life” experiences while enacting the client role, and encourage further study into this type of learning experience.

Developing an Online Counseling Skills Course

Outlined here is the development and implementation of an online counseling skills course at a Rocky Mountain University in the western United States. Techniques were used in reference to how a traditional counselor education classroom operates to teach counseling skills and were modified to fit an online setting. The design of this course used best practices from research regarding online learning, as well as techniques specific to online learning environments. Additionally, the course implemented a learning community utilizing peer collaboration and the encouragement of positive student and instructor relationships. Finally, the course underscored the uniqueness of the individuals enrolled in the context of community membership with careful consideration of diverse backgrounds.

Integrating Motivational Interviewing into a Basic Counseling Skills Course to Enhance Counseling Self-Efficacy

Motivational interviewing (MI), a humanistic counseling style used to help activate clients' motivation to change, was integrated into a basic counseling skills course. Nineteen graduate-level counseling students completed the Counselor Estimate of Self-Efficacy at the start and conclusion of the course. Significant differences were found between students' pre/post measures of self-efficacy (r( 18) = -7.055, p = .0005). Qualitative data collected concerning students' experiences learning counseling skills in the context of MI are described by four main themes: (a) valuable and relevant learning experience, (b) more self-assuredness in working with challenging clients, (c) uncertainty in applying technique, and (d) feelings of restriction with MI application. Implications for integrating MI in skills courses and future directions in research are discussed.Keywords: counseling skills, counseling students, motivational interviewing, self-efHcacy, student experiencesSelf-efficacy is an important mediator of performance and involves the degree to which people are capable, diligent and committed in their work (Chen, Casper, & Cortina, 2001). Specific to counselor education, there is a supported relationship between counseling self-efficacy and counselor training (Larson et al, 1992; Nilsson & Duan, 2007). Counseling self-efficacy has been shown to play a fundamental role in counselor development and training (Barnes, 2004; Lent et al, 2006), and higher counseling self-efficacy can be related to greater performance due to motivation factors (Bandura, 1986; Greason & Cashwell, 2009). In this study, the authors explored counselor trainees' counseling self-efficacy before and after the completion of a counseling skills course that integrated MI. This technique was incorporated into the course to increase students' humanistic people-responsiveness skills and to expose students to a defined evidence-based practice to help increase their counseling self-efficacy. Students' experiences in this course were also a focus in the current study.Counseling Self-EfficacyCounseling self-efficacy can be defined as a counselor's belief about his or her ability to effectively counsel a client in the near future (Larson, 1998; Larson & Daniels, 1998; Lent et al., 2006). Based on Bandura's (1997) theory, this confidence is an important factor in the likelihood of counselor trainees applying specific counseling skills. Counseling skills can be defined as the ability of a counselor to demonstrate attending behavior that displays empathy, support, and a unified effort with the client toward a common goal of resolution and movement forward (Ivey, Packard, & Ivey, 2006; Schaefle et al, 2005; Schaefle, Smaby, Packman, & Maddux, 2007). More specifically, counseling attending behavior can be demonstrated through clarifications, encouragement, paraphrasing, reflecting and summarizing of client statements (Easton et al., 2008; Ivey et al., 2006). Self-efficacy theory states that the ability to thrive in the workplace entails not only content knowledge and appropriate application of required skills, but also the worker's belief that he or she will use the skills successfully (Barnes, 2004; Melchert, Hays, Wiljanen, & Kolocek, 1996; Tang et al., 2004). Counseling self-efficacy theory holds the assumption that self-efficacy is the instrument through which effective practice occurs and perseverance is strengthened for navigating challenging professional scenarios. The theory also contends that self-efficacy enables an environment where counselor trainees are better able to value feedback in their learning processes (Barnes, 2004; Larson, 1998).Providing opportunities for students to practice, learn and master counseling skills is a powerful way to develop self-efficacy (Greason & Cashwell, 2009). Within pedagogy literature, researchers suggest that counselor competency can be best developed through critical thinking activities such as role-play, modeling, and receiving practice feedback. …

A Motivational Interviewing Course for Pharmacy Students

To create, implement, and evaluate a pharmacy course on motivational interviewing. A 3-hour elective course was created to train doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students in brief patient-centered motivational interviewing counseling strategies that have proven effective with the types of health issues most commonly addressed in pharmacy settings. Students were assisted in developing their skills through required readings, interactive lectures, in-class demonstrations and practice sessions, out of class skills practice, one-on-one supervision provided by doctoral level clinical health psychology students, and written reflections on each class session. Students demonstrated significant improvement in motivational interviewing skills and a high level of motivation for and confidence in using these skills in their future practice. Students overall assessment of the course and supervision process was highly positive. This patient-centered counseling skills course was feasible and produced improvements in PharmD students' counseling skills and increased their motivation and confidence to use motivational interviewing skills in their future communications with patients.

Web 2.0 Technologies: Facilitating Interaction in an Online Human Services Counseling Skills Course

In the face-to-face classroom, human services counseling educators rely on highly interpersonal, interactive methods to teach clinical skills. Replicating these instructional methods in the asynchronous, text-based e-learning environment has been difficult and sometimes impossible. However, web-based technologies, specifically Web 2.0 technologies, may afford educators the opportunity to simulate and enhance the strengths of highly interpersonal and interactive methods of face-to-face clinical skill instruction. These authors demonstrate how a human services counseling skills course can be taught using Web 2.0 technologies. Most of the focus will be on two synchronous applications: 3-D virtual worlds and web conferencing. Implications for educators and recommendations for future research are provided.

Web-Based Education in the Human Services: Use of Web-Based Video Clips in Counselling Skills Training

SUMMARY This use of web-based video clips for counsellor skills training is used in the Campus Alberta Applied Psychology Counselling Initiative which provides Master's-level counsellor education at a distance. The core counselling skills course is delivered through the Web using digital video clips of counselling skills demonstrations, chat room skills practice and weekly discussion forums. A follow-up face-to-face Summer Institute allows learners to receive live feedback on their skill development. Course content is grounded in the construct of the working alliance (Bordin, 1979). Course activities use Bloom's taxonomies of learning objectives. Program evaluation suggests that learners are meeting competencies as they move from this course to practicum placements.

Exploring students’ experience of training for counselling skills and the impact on practice

The aim of this study was to explore participants' experience of an accredited counselling skills course and their perception of its impact on practice. A qualitative design was used utilizing a mixed-method approach. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and the repertory-grid technique. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis (interviews) and the repertory grids were analysed qualitatively using a four-stage procedure. A convenience sample of six healthcare professionals undertaking a counselling skills course completed both interviews. The biggest impact of the course was in the area of self-awareness and skill development. The development of attentive listening, both in terms of objective and subjective findings, was evident. Students perceived that personal qualities, such as warmth and caring, were essential. All participants identified that the group were supportive and that this enhanced learning. The students changed their practice by improving their skills, increasing their awareness and by developing deeper therapeutic relationships with patients and their carers. This research adds to the body of knowledge in palliative care. It identifies key elements in the learning of counselling skills and recognizes the impact of these skills on improving the care of palliative care patients and families.

Sacrifice

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJane BarclayJane Barclay lives and works in Exeter, developing her private practice as a Therapeutic Counsellor. Since qualifying in 2000, she's recently trained in Somatic Trauma Therapy, and will shortly be tutoring an Introduction to Counselling Skills course for the WEA in Dartington. Having submitted Second Childhood for publication (an account with commentary of her own healing process,) its sequel will fictionalise experiences of being forty-something and newly single. Email contact is welcome: janebarclay@onetel.net.uk

A Measure of Counselor Competency

Counselor educators need to be able to demonstrate their effectiveness in training new counselors; however, currently few valid or reliable measures exist for assessing educators' impact. The authors describe the development of such an instrument, the Counseling Skills Scale. They began by revising an existing scale and then they solicited feedback from experts and a focus group. They used the instrument to compare beginning counselors‐in‐training with those who had completed a counseling skills course. Finally, they conducted an item analysis. A paired t test showed significant improvements in counseling skills (t = 4.51, p < .000) from pretest to posttest. Cronbach's alpha showed internal consistency to be .90.

Raising the counselling skill base in an urban community: a partnership approach

The majority of people with psychosocial problems confide in relatives or friends rather than their GP or other professional but the advice and information handed out, although well intentioned, may be misinformed. Others consult key personnel within their community who also may be ill-equipped to give constructive help. In a disadvantaged inner city area, it might be expected not only that stress would be prominent in people's lives and affect their health, but also that there would be barriers to seeking professional help. This project investigated whether working in partnership with a community, enabling its members to identify their own support, development and training needs and meeting those needs by adaptation of a recognized basic counselling skills course, was an effective way of helping that community cope with its own psychosocial problems, increasing its transferable skill base. Evaluation was conducted by means of individual interviews and focus groups. Participants perceived that the training that they had undertaken was valuable and that they were now better listeners with increased confidence and more likely to offer appropriate responses to those seeking their help. Several were motivated to undertake further training and others gained confidence to seek further professional help for themselves. Spending time allowing a community to define its own training needs whilst working on familiar territory is a cheap, effective, non-threatening way of putting information, basic counselling and relationship building skills into a disadvantaged urban community without causing dependency but instead encouraging them to seek further training enhancing employability. The skills introduced into that community remain and can be used to the full for themselves and others especially in relation to psychosocial problems. As the project used a well-recognized course and can be adapted to the needs of local people, it is likely to be transferable to other areas.

The success of an integrated care programme for patients with ischaemic heart disease: the practice nurses' perspective of SHIP.

Follow-up care of patients with angina and myocardial infarction after hospital discharge is known to be suboptimal across the UK. The employment of cardiac liaison nurses ensured timely notification of hospital discharge and good communication of each patient's current and planned care. The direct ongoing support of the liaison nurse was valued by more practice nurses than educational support meetings and the initial counselling skills course. The most important factor which enabled practice nurses to expand their role to provide post-hospital follow-up care was the support of the doctors in the practice. After the conclusion of the Southampton Heart Integrated Care Project (SHIP) and the withdrawal of cardiac liaison nurses, the lack of hospital discharge notification was the most important reason for practice nurses discontinuing follow-up care.

Evaluation of a counselling skills course for health professionals

A counselling skills course run by a London hospital for 11 health professionals was evaluated. The course covered family counselling skills and child management techniques. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used at five times of testing over a period of 10 months. It was found that participants improved self-perceptions of their counselling ability, increased their knowledge of counselling theories, and considered the course to be helpful in their subsequent work with families. There was no significant change in trainees' self-concept scores. Regular supervision was regarded as helpful in consolidating skills and exploring aspects of practice in a safe environment. Issues relating to evaluation research are discussed.

Evaluation of a counselling skills course for health professionals

Evaluation of a counselling skills course for health professionals

The design of learning events

Considers eight principles that make for effective learning events: congruence, trust building, having a clear purpose, emphasizing the positive, creating ownership, thinking about whole people, using a complete process and client centredness. These principles lead to events where people learn well because they are safe and supported and their experience is positive. Describes two successful learning events, a counselling skills course and a conference session that promoted understanding between governors, trainers and headteachers. The details of the training processes illustrate the practical use of the eight principles. Shows that it is essential to think about any training design from the trainee’s point of view and shows a trainer how to do this.

The content of AIDS counselling workshops for nursing students

The need to train nurses to care for people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an important one. The need, also, to help them to develop counselling skills in this field is also vital. This paper reports the responses of 21 workers in the AIDS field (including nurse educators and teachers) to the question: ‘If you were setting up an AIDS counselling course for nurses, what sorts of elements would you have in it?” The responses were content analysed and grouped into 8 categories. These were: information about AIDS; psychology and sociology; attitudinal issues; sexuality; personal issues; counselling; visits from other people and the history of AIDS. The issues within these 8 categories of content for an AIDS counselling skills course for nurses are discussed.