Counselor Ratings Research Articles

Gay and lesbian clients' ratings of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors

Gay and lesbian clients' ratings of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors

Commentary on “gay and lesbian clients' ratings of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors”

Commentary on “gay and lesbian clients' ratings of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors”

Concurrent validity of the MMPI-A in a counseling program for juvenile offenders.

This study was conducted to examine the concurrent validity of the MMPI-A (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent) in an adolescent offender setting. From a sample of 50 court-adjudicated youths participating in an outpatient counseling program, 42 valid MMPI-A profiles were obtained, 33 of which were accompanied by counselor ratings of behavior problems. The highest mean elevations on the MMPI-A were on scales MAC-R (MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised), A-Con (Adolescent Conduct Problems), A-Sch (Adolescent School Problems), Pd (Psychopathic Deviate), and IMM (Adolescent Immaturity). Counselor ratings of behavior problems correlated highly with scales ACK (Alcohol and Drug Acknowledgment Scale), A-Sch, A-Ang (Adolescent Anger Problems), Ma (Hypomania), and PRO (Alcohol/Drug Problem Proneness). This pattern of results supports the concurrent validity of the MMPI-A for use in this setting.

Using Peer, Self, and Counselor Ratings to Evaluate Treatment Progress

It is generally recognized that the evaluation of treatment progress requires multiple methods of assessment. To provide a basis for supplementing existing measures, the current study investigated the use of a peer rating methodology for evaluating the treatment progress of 381 probationers admitted to a four-month residential drug abuse facility. Self ratings of “working the program” (i.e., conscientiously participating in treatment) were compared with ratings by peers in the program and with ratings by counselors. Peer and counselor ratings were more highly correlated with each other than with client self ratings. Peer as well as self ratings detected differences between enhanced and standard counseling, and were related to individual difference measures known to be associated with treatment progress. In addition, peer midterm ratings of “working the program” were related to both self and counselor ratings of clients' end term participation, and counselor ratings of the likelihood of remaining clean and sober. These findings support the use of peer ratings as additional indicators of treatment progress.

Convergent and Predictive Validity of Scales Measuring Adolescent Substance Abuse

A relatively new adolescent drug abuse instrument, the Personal Experience Inventory (PEI), was evaluated for convergent and predictive validity in a clinical sample of 140 youths being evaluated for drug treatment referral. The tool's problem severity scales were compared to concurrent client (n = 140) and parent (n = 102) measures of drug abuse and related psychosocial functioning at intake and one-year lateer, to counselor intake ratings of problems and treatment need, to client treatment tenure, and to outcome functioning. PEI convergent validity coefficients (r) based on client concurrent measures at both data points and based on counselor ratings of drug abuse problem severity generally exceeded .50, whereas coefficients typically fell below .50 when the PEI was compared to the less direct client measures of psychosocial functioning and the parent measures. The predictive validity results indicate a moderately positive association between PEI scores and treatment and aftercare attendance and client functioning one year later, particularly for the no-treatment subjects. The data are discussed within the context of growing evidence documenting psychometric adequacy for the PEI and the validity of self-report by adolescents in clinical settings.

Countertransference Behavior and Management in Brief Counseling: A Field Study

The relationship between countertransference (CT) behavior and factors theorized to facilitate CT management was examined in a study of 20 counseling dyads. Previous supervisors' ratings of counselors' empathy and self-integration were found to relate negatively to counselors' CT behavior. Furthermore, CT behavior was inversely related to treatment impact in cases with poor to moderate treatment results but was unrelated to treatment impact in successful cases. These data suggest that CT is not successfully managed in cases with poor to moderate treatment results so that the adverse effect on treatment results is proportionate to the amount of CT exhibited. In successful counseling, however, CT may be managed in such a way that the overall amount present is unrelated to treatment results.Die Beziehung zwischen Gegenübertragungsverhalter und Faktoren, die theoretisch dessen Handhabung erleichtern sollten, wurde im Rahmen einer Untersuchung von 20 Beratungsdyaden untersucht. Es zeigte sich eine negative Beziehung zwischen den von Supervisoren vorgenommenen Beurteilung der Empathie und Selbstintegrität der Berater und dem Gegenübertragungsverhalten dieser Personen. Ferner stand das Gegenübertragungsverhalten in einer inversen Beziehung zum Behandlungserfolg, und zwar speziell bei jenen Fällen, bie denen dieser Erfolg gering bis mässig war. Keine Beziehung fand sich im Fall erfolgreicher Patienten. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass das Gegenübertragungsverhalten in Fällen mit geringem bis mässigem Therapieerfolg offensichtlich nicht adäquat gehandhabt wird, was sich am Verhältnis des Ausmasses von Gegenübertragungsverhalten zu den negativen zu den negativen Effekten der Behandlung zeigen lässt. In erfolgreichen Beratungen dagegen scheint das Gegenübertragungsverhalten auf eine Art und Weise gehandhabt zu werden, dass dessen Gesamtanteil nicht mit dem Behandlungersergebnis in Beziehung steht.La relation entre le comportement de contre-transfert (CT) et les facteurs théorisés sensés faciliter la gestion du CT a été examinée dans une étude de 20 dyades en consultations. Les évaluations antécédentes des superviseurs sur l'empathie et l'auto-intégration des thérapeutes ont montré une relation négative avec leur comportement de CT. De plus, le comportement de CT. De plus, le comportement de CT était inversement lié à l'impact du traitement dans des cas de résultats de traitement faibles à modérés, mais n'était pas lié aux impact de traitements dans de cas de succès. Les données suggèrent que le CT n'est pas géré avec succès dans les cas où les résultats de traitement sont faibles à modérés, de telle sorte que l'effet contraire sur les résultats du traitement est proportionnel à la quantité de CT manifesté. Toutefois lors de consultations réussies, le CT semble être géré de telle manière qu'il ne porte pas préjudice, quelle qu'en soit l'intensité, aux résultats du traitement.

Effects of Religiosity and Problem Type on Counselor Description Ratings

This analogue study examines the interaction between precounseling information, religiosity, and problem type and its subsequent effect on counselor ratings of social influence and willingness to seek help. Using an inventory of Christian beliefs, the authors assess college students' religiosity. After providing a presenting problem and reading a description of a secular (nonreligious), religious‐empathic, or Christian counselor, participants responded to the Counselor Rating Form—Short and Willingness to Seek Help scale. Based on an Aptitude × Treatment interaction design using hierarchical multiple regression, the interactions between participant religiosity and counselor description, as well as participant religiosity, counselor description, and participant problem type, were predictive of counselor social influence and willingness to seek help ratings only with respect to the Christian counselor description. Implications of these results for research and practice are discussed.

Presentation Format in Analogue Studies: Effects on Participants' Evaluations

Whether presentation format (video, audio, written transcript, or written transcript with photograph) affects participants' responses to counseling scenarios in an analogue study was examined. After watching a brief counseling session presented in one of four formats, 131 participants completed three instruments measuring counselor credibility and expectations. Results revealed significant differences among the formats on teh COunselor Rating Form (CRF-S; Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983) Trustworthiness and Expertness Scales, with transcripts with pictures rated the highest (higher than videotape and audiotape) and transcripts without pictures rated second highest (higher than video). No significant differences between the presentation formats were revealed on the Expectations about Counseling Questionnaire (EAC; Tinsley, Workman, & Kass, 1980) or 15 Personal Problem Inventory (15PPI; Cash, Begley, McCown, & Weise, 1975). Results suggest that studies using differing formats with the CRF-S are not necessarily comparable and that the four types of analogue approaches may not be interchangeable.

Treatment Program Progress

In this study, the authors evaluated the psychometric properties of the Treatment Program Progress (TPP) rating scale, a brief instrument that assesses counselor ratings of patient response to 12-step–oriented substance abuse treatment interventions. In both 3- and 5-day-per-week outpatient programs, the TPP bad good internal consistency reliability. However the TPP demonstrated good interrater reliability and strong predictive validity only in the 5-day program. These preliminary results suggest that the TPP may be used to identify outpatients who are at heightened risk for early dropout, but only when raters have frequent opportunities to observe the patients (i.e., more than 3 times per week).

Prediction of attrition from day hospital treatment in lower socioeconomic cocaine-dependent men

This study attempted to identify predictors of completion of a 27 h/week 4-week day hospital program for cocaine dependence. The research subjects were 95 lower socioeconomic, primarily African American male veterans. Of a wide range of predictor variables available at baseline, including sociodemographic and historical information, Addiction Severity Index data, psychiatric diagnoses, SCL-90 measures, and measures of craving and familial alcoholism, only the cocaine urine toxicology result and self report of days of cocaine use in the past 30 days (log transformed) were significant predictors. The urine toxicology result was the more powerful predictor with 73% with a negative urine completing treatment, as contrasted with 36% with a positive urine. Three additional measures obtained at the end of treatment week 1 further increased ability to predict treatment completion/attrition. Two of these measures were based on counsellor ratings and one was based on the patient's report of psychiatric treatment services received during the first treatment week. Thus, patients at high risk for dropout can be identified fairly early. Whether treatments can be adapted to retain such patients is an important question for the field.

Dependency, self-criticism, and perceptions of inferiority at summer camp: I'm even worse than you think

This research examined dependency and self-criticism and their relation to depression and social-personal adjustment. Seventy-seven subjects at a summer day camp, aged 8–14 years, completed the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire devised by Blatt et al. in 1992, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children devised in 1980, and a measure of self-esteem (SE) devised by Harter in 1982. Each subject was rated independently by two counselors on social, athletic, and general functioning. Results revealed that self-criticism, but not dependency, was positively related to depression. Moreover, self-criticism was associated with negative self-ratings in social and sports domains and in general SE. Counselor ratings confirmed social problems and perceptions of low SE for self-critics. Dependency was unrelated to self or counselor ratings, except for a trend toward a positive relation for social functioning. Analyses indicated a discrepancy between self and counselor ratings for self-critics but not for dependents, so that self-critics appear to exaggerate their weaknesses in social and athletic functioning. Finally, self-criticism decreased with age, while dependency was unrelated to age.

Treatment Program Progress:Reliability and Predictive Validity of the Treatment Program Progress Rating Scale

In this study, the authors evaluated the psychometric properties of the Treatment Program Progress (TPP) rating scale, a brief instrument that assesses counselor ratings of patient response to 12-step-oriented substance abuse treatment interventions. In both 3- and 5-day-per-week outpatient programs, the TPP bad good internal consistency reliability. However the TPP demonstrated good interrater reliability and strong predictive validity only in the 5-day program. These preliminary results suggest that the TPP may be used to identify outpatients who are at heightened risk for early dropout, but only when raters have frequent opportunities to observe the patients (i. e., more than 3 times per week).

RACE, DRUG OF CHOICE, AND ADJUSTMENT TO INCARCERATION AMONG MALE DETAINEES

This study explored the effects of race and drug of choice on adjustment among male offenders in a minimum security detention center. It was found that the best adjusted offenders, as measured by counselor ratings on five dimensions of adjustment, were black offenders who identified marijuana as their primary drug of choice. The most poorly adjusted offenders were found to be black offenders who identified cocaine as their primary drug of choice.

Pharmacist Gender and Drinking Behavior and Pharmacy Students' perceptions of Pharmacist Credibility

We examined the role of pharmacist gender and drinking behavior on pharmacy student perceptions of pharmacist credibility. Six written vignettes were developed in which we systematically varied three drinking behaviors and the gender of the pharmacist. We distributed questionnaires, each with one of the vignettes and the Counselor Rating Form-Short to measure perceptions of credibility in a randomized block fashion in a classroom setting. A total of 97 of 98 pharmacy students responded. Students perceived the heavy drinking pharmacist to be less attractive, expert, and trustworthy than the moderate or light drinking pharmacists regardless of pharmacist gender. Students may see female pharmacists as colleagues, ignoring sex role expectations.

Effects of Structuring on Students' Perceptions of Career Counseling

This study examines the effects of the use of structuring on participants' impressions of a counselor during an initial career counseling session. A total of 232 undergraduate students viewed a videotape of an initial career counseling session. Both groups observed the identical tape with the exception that one group was additionally shown a brief structuring segment. The 2 groups were compared across the variables of attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness as measured by the Counselor Rating Form. The participants were also asked to rate their willingness to see a counselor about a career issue before and after viewing the videotape. Significant differences were found across the dependent measures. Implications of the findings for counselors are discussed.

Gender salient attribute × treatment interaction effects on ratings of two analogue counselors.

One-hundred one women and 109 men participated in a test of M. N. Russell's (1984) assertion that exploring gender themes in counseling is most therapeutic when the client also considers gender issues relevant for understanding personal experience. This matching hypothesis was examined with an Attribute × Treatment interaction design. Scores on the Real Events Salience of Gender Scale (RESOG) operationalized the attribute variable of perceptions of gender salience. The treatment variable was an analogue counselor making either high gender salience (HiGS) or low gender salience (LoGS) interventions. It was hypothesized that the HiGS counselor would be given higher evaluations by participants who reported more gender salient transactions. Results indicated small interaction effects, whereby (a) ratings on the Attractiveness subscale of the Counselor Rating Form-Short of the HiGS counselor increased and the same ratings of the LoGS counselor decreased as perceived gender typicality increased, and (b) willingness to see the HiGS counselor increased and willingness to see the LoGS counselor decreased as the perceived unfavorability of a same-sex transaction increased

Relationship Between Counselors' Clinical Hypotheses and Client Ratings of Counselor Effectiveness

The authors assessed the relationship of counseling students' hypothesis formation skill levels to counseling effectiveness. Hypothesis rating scales were selected to assess skill in using a comprehensive range of client data, integrating multiple client dimensions, and forming questions for hypothesis testing. Results indicated that higher ratings of hypothesis formation skill were associated with higher client ratings of counselor effectiveness. A combination of four hypothesis skill ratings predicted more than 60% of the variance in total Counselor Rating Form‐Short version (CRF‐S) scores, and one or more hypothesis formation skills were predictive of each CRF‐S subscale score.

Principals' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of School Counselors With and Without Teaching Experience

The effect of teaching experience on school counselor performance was examined by comparing principals' ratings of counselors with previous teaching experience to counselors certified without classroom teaching experience.

Empathy: its effect on how counsellors are perceived

Abstract The importance of sex of counsellor, ethnicity, empathy and client-counsellor sex-pairings on clients' perceptions of the counsellor was investigated. 96 students were asked to rate black or white, male or female, and empathic or non-empathic counsellors, on attractiveness, expertness and trustworthiness. Contrary to previous research, sex of the counsellor, and sex of student-counsellor pairings, had no significant effect on counsellor ratings. Ethnicity of counsellor - which has been largely ignored in research until recently - was found to be a highly signifcant factor in students' ratings of the counsellor: black counsellors were rated significantly higher than white counsellors on attractiveness, expertness and trustworthiness. The importance of empathy as a requisite for the counselling process was supported: counsellors were rated higher on all three variables if they used an empathic approach. There were no interaction effects between the variables.

Empathy: Its effect on how counsellors are perceived

Abstract The importance of sex of counsellor, ethnicity, empathy and client-counsellor sex-pairings on clients' perceptions of the counsellor was investigated. 96 students were asked to rate black or white, male or female, and empathic or non-empathic counsellors, on attractiveness, expertness and trustworthiness. Contrary to previous research, sex of the counsellor, and sex of student-counsellor pairings, had no significant effect on counsellor ratings. Ethnicity of counsellor - which has been largely ignored in research until recently - was found to be a highly signifcant factor in students' ratings of the counsellor: black counsellors were rated significantly higher than white counsellors on attractiveness, expertness and trustworthiness. The importance of empathy as a requisite for the counselling process was supported: counsellors were rated higher on all three variables if they used an empathic approach. There were no interaction effects between the variables.