Node-link mapping: A visual representation strategy for enhancing drug abuse counseling.

Taught a multipurpose visual representation strategy, node-link mapping, to randomly selected counselors in 3 methadone maintenance (MM) drug treatment programs. Counselors were trained to use mapping in their individual and group sessions as a communication, thinking, and memory aid. MM clients were randomly assigned to either mapping counselors or standard counselors (i.e., ones who did not receive mapping training). In Study 1, there were statistically significant differences in favor of mapping during the 1st 3 mo of treatment for measures of client commitment to counseling and counselor perceptions of the client (e.g., motivation). In Study 2, the results based on clients at more advanced stages of treatment were more limited, but the pattern of mean differences was similar to that of Study 1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling session impact as viewed by novice counselors and their clients.

The Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ) was used to measure the perspectives of 17 graduate-student counselors and their 72 17–39 yr old clients on 942 individual counseling sessions along 2 evaluative dimensions—depth and smoothness—and 2 dimensions of postsession mood—positivity and arousal. A components-of-variance analysis showed that, from both perspectives, SEQ ratings varied greatly from session to session; ratings were only modestly predictable from differences among counselors or among counselor–client dyads. However, averages across 6–20 sessions permitted adequately reliable differentiation among dyads, for example, for comparisons with outcome measures. Correlations between corresponding counselor and client dimensions ranged from moderate to negligible, whether calulated across sessions, across clients, or across counselors, Novice counselors' judgments of session depth and value may have had little relation to their clients' evaluations. On the other hand, counselors' comfort in sessions and postsession positive mood were moderately predictive of client reactions. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor and client personality as determinants of counselor expectancy effects.

78 students enrolled in summer-session college courses were randomly assigned to serve either as counselors or as clients for a 20-min, role-played peer counseling session. Ss completed a battery of standardized personality measures, including the Personality Research Form. Each counselor interacted with 2 clients. Prior to the sessions, the counselor was led to believe that one of the clients was especially introverted and that the other client was especially extraverted. Dependent measures were based on clients' change scores on a mood adjective rating scale administered before and after the peer counseling sessions. Analyses showed that counselors who were more successful at biasing their clients in the direction of their expectancies (a) scored higher on measures of dogmatism, nurturance, and social recognition; (b) scored lower on impulsivity; and (c) were more likely to be female. Clients who were more susceptible to counselor bias scored higher on the Self-Monitoring Scale, its Other-Directedness subscale, and social recognition. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client self-terminations after one counseling session: Effects of problem recognition, counselor gender, and counselor experience.

From a pool of 758 clients seen individually by 1 of 34 counselors at a large university counseling center, 533 clients were identified as having self-terminated from counseling after their initial session or as having continued in counseling for at least 3 sessions. The authors investigated potential relationships between continuation in counseling and the variables of counselor experience, counselor gender, and counselor recognition of clients' problem definitions. As predicted, the results of logit analyses indicated that clients were more likely to self-terminate after 1 session when problem recognition was absent. This relationship was more pronounced for experienced counselors than it was for trainees, suggesting a possible explanation for the lack of a direct relationship between counselor experience and continuation in counseling in recent studies. Female counselors had higher rates of early premature terminations than male counselors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client introversion and counseling session impact.

Tested the hypothesis that insofar as personal counseling is a social encounter, introverted clients may be expected to experience greater distress in sessions than extraverted clients. This expectation was confirmed in a total of 83 clients (aged 17–39 yrs) in a university clinic who completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) during their treatment and completed a session evaluation questionnaire immediately after their sessions. With differences among counselors statistically controlled, relatively introverted (higher MMPI Social Introversion) clients rated their sessions as relatively uncomfortable, unpleasant, tense, rough, and difficult and rated their postsession mood as relatively unfriendly, uncertain, sad, angry, and afraid. Conversely, relatively gregarious, overactive, extraverted (higher MMPI Hypomania scores) clients rated their sessions as relatively comfortable, pleasant, relaxed, smooth, and easy. It is suggested that client introversion should be incorporated explicitly into counseling theories and should be measured as a possible mediating variable in process and outcome research. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of counselor identification of client problem description to continuance in a behavioral weight loss program.

I investigated the relation of counselor ability to articulate salient information to continuance in a weight loss program in two studies. In the first, clients (N?=?39) were asked questions regarding their weight loss problems, and counselors were asked to predict client responses. A higher proportion of accurate predictions occurred for clients who later completed the program than for those who dropped out. Within the completer group, there was greater weight loss in cases that had been accurately predicted than in those that had not. The second study was identical to the first except for program duration, which was eight sessions for the first and six sessions for the second (N?=?41 clients). The results of the second study replicated those of the first with regard to continuance but not outcome. I discuss the relevance of the results to similar research done with different client populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of what clients and counselors do not say in brief therapy.

After each session in 24 cases of 6-session therapy, clients and counselors reported thoughts or feelings that they did not say, and counselors tried to guess what clients left unsaid. Results indicated that most things left unsaid were negative. Clients did not reveal behaviors/cognitions and emotions, whereas counselors did not reveal emotions and clinical conjectures. For clients, there was a positive correlation between (1) the proportion of things with emotional content left unsaid and (2) client-rated satisfaction with therapy and change, but there was a negative correlation between (1) the proportion of things left unsaid with behavioral/cognitive content and (2) client-rated satisfaction with change. Finally, counselors were aware of only 17% of the things clients left unsaid. When counselors accurately guessed what clients left unsaid, counselors rated the sessions as being rougher, and clients were less satisfied with treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of client and counselor expectancies regarding the duration of counseling.

Asked 594 college students seeking counseling at a university counseling center to indicate duration expectancies in the form of estimates of the number of sessions needed to resolve the problem(s) they were presenting. Following the initial interview, 40 counselors who saw the clients gave their own duration expectancies for 434 of the clients. The results of a comparison of estimates showed that clients consistently gave significantly lower mean estimates than counselors. No significant correlations were obtained between client or counselor duration expectancies and the number of weeks remaining in the school term or year. Clients with career development concerns and counselors of clients with these concerns gave the smallest mean estimates. Large mean and modal discrepancies occurred between client and counselor estimates for personal/social problems. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between counselor-initiated humor and client's self-perceived attraction in the counseling interview.

Videotaped 30 quasi-analogical initial counseling sessions between 30 31–66 yr old clients and 10 29–57 yr old counselors from 2 alcoholism counseling centers. Immediately following the sessions, clients rated degrees of attraction to counselors and recorded instances of counselor-initiated humor rated as humorous or not humorous. Results support the contention that counselor-initiated shared humor in an initial counseling session enhanced clients' attraction for counselors. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Duration, satisfaction, and perceived effectiveness of cross-cultural counseling.

The relationship between cultural dissimilarity and the duration, satisfaction, and perceived effectiveness of counseling was studied in the context of 70 actual treatment dyads that varied as to the race of the counselor and the client (White or non-White). White counselors provided fewer sessions than non-White counselors, and non-White clients expressed lower levels of overall satisfaction with counseling, regardless of counselor race. No differences in counseling effectiveness were observed as measured by counselor and client ratings of perceived relief, understanding, and coping. Relative to other treatment dyads, however, White clients seeing White counselors attributed their change more to counseling than to other, outside factors. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor verbal response modes and experienced empathy.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 34(3) of Journal of Counseling Psychology (see record 2008-10749-001). The second paragraph of the author acknowledgement should have read as follows: We thank Ian Spalding for supervision of the session recordings, Liz Colley for programming and advice on data analysis, Richard Shillcock and Jane Oakhill for response mode coding, and Robert Elliott for comments on a draft.] Client and counselor perceptions of empathy at different stages in the counseling process were examined in relation to the verbal response modes used by counselors in 24 client–counselor dyads. Each of 6 counselors (aged 32–58 yrs) at college counseling centers was studied in counseling with 4 clients, of whom 2 were in initial sessions and 2 were in sessions drawn from ongoing counseling relationships. Clients perceived counselors as showing significantly greater empathy during ongoing than during initial sessions, and counselors perceived themselves as showing significantly greater empathy during initial sessions than did clients rating the same sessions. Clients rated counselors using fewer general advisements as more empathic, whereas counselors who rated themselves more empathic used more explorations and fewer reassurances. At the moment-to-moment level tapped by interpersonal process recall, exploration was the only category strongly associated with both client and counselor experiences of empathic communication in both initial and ongoing sessions. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the effects of client sex and presenting problem in referral from intake.

Examined the extent to which client sex and presenting problem were related to the sex of the counselor to whom the client was referred for individual counseling. Data were collected from the files of 142 counseling center clients seen initially by an intake counselor and then referred for individual counseling; the 25 intake counselors, 14 male and 11 female, were the center's professional staff and maintained regular client loads as well as sharing intake responsibilities with other staff members. Results indicate a predominance of same-sex referrals regardless of client sex, sex of the intake counselor, or the client's presenting problem. While intake counselors were more likely to keep clients of their own sex for continued individual counseling, the tendency to make same-sex referrals was most evident when clients were referred to other counselors. The results suggest that sex is a salient factor in the assignment of clients to counselors and that further study of the conditions under which same-sex vs opposite-sex counselor–client pairings lead to differentially effective counseling outcomes is needed. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internalization of therapeutic relationships in short-term psychotherapy.

Structural Analysis of Social Behavior was used to chart the internalization of the therapeutic relationships of 48 clients in short-term psychotherapy at 2 university counseling centers. After initial and final sessions, clients reported their perceptions of counselors' actions and attitudes toward them, their own actions and attitudes toward counselors, and their intrapsychic dispositions. Results suggested clients internalized dispositions that they perceived counselors held toward them. Furthermore, results indicated that clients perceived interpersonal complementarity at the beginning but that the degree of interpersonal complementarity did not increase over time. In contrast, clients perceived a lack of interpersonal–intrapsychic complementarity early in therapy but perceived an increase in this complementarity at the end of therapy. This study proposes an integration of interpersonal and psychodynamic theories of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of perceived etiology attribution similarity on client ratings of counselor credibility.

An experimental design was used to test the hypothesis that clients who perceived their counselors as holding etiology attributions similar to their own would rate their counselors' credibility higher than clients who perceived their counselors as holding dissimilar attributions. 40 undergraduate volunteers participated as clients in counseling role-plays with 11 graduate student counselors. At the end of the 3-session counseling analogue experience, each client was exposed to a mock counselor questionnaire on which the counselor's etiology attributions were manipulated to either agree or disagree with the client's etiology attributions. Results indicated that clients in the similarity of etiology attribution condition rated their counselors to be more credible sources of help than did clients in the dissimilarity of etiology attribution condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Counselor verbal response modes and experienced empathy": Correction to Barkham and Shapiro.

Reports an error in "Counselor verbal response modes and experienced empathy" by Michael Barkham and David A. Shapiro (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1986[Jan], Vol 33[1], 3-10). The second paragraph of the author acknowledgement should have read as follows: We thank Ian Spalding for supervision of the session recordings, Liz Colley for programming and advice on data analysis, Richard Shillcock and Jane Oakhill for response mode coding, and Robert Elliott for comments on a draft. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1986-15306-001.) Client and counselor perceptions of empathy at different stages in the counseling process were examined in relation to the verbal response modes used by counselors in 24 client–counselor dyads. Each of 6 counselors (aged 32–58 yrs) at college counseling centers was studied in counseling with 4 clients, of whom 2 were in initial sessions and 2 were in sessions drawn from ongoing counseling relationships. Clients perceived counselors as showing significantly greater empathy during ongoing than during initial sessions, and counselors perceived themselves as showing significantly greater empathy during initial sessions than did clients rating the same sessions. Clients rated counselors using fewer general advisements as more empathic, whereas counselors who rated themselves more empathic used more explorations and fewer reassurances. At the moment-to-moment level tapped by interpersonal process recall, exploration was the only category strongly associated with both client and counselor experiences of empathic communication in both initial and ongoing sessions. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor intake judgments about White and Black clients in a university counseling center.

Compared counselor intake judgments about White and Black clients at a university counseling center. 1,078 White and 42 Black clients were randomly assigned to 1 of 13 counselors (11 Whites, 2 Blacks), who rated the clients on 11 variables. Counselors reported significantly higher ratings only on the judged potential for change in Black clients when compared with that in White clients. Ratings in the type and severity of presenting problem, client anxiety level, ease of expression, motivation, realism of goals, and physical appearance were not significantly different. Counselors' feelings about clients and the predicted number of counseling sessions were also similar for Black and White clients. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative perceptions of counselor behavior: A replication and extension.

Investigated comparative perceptions of counselor behavior. 40 counseling interviews were rated by 40 16–50 yr old participating clients, 9 counselors (professional staff members), and 5 observers (staff psychologists) along social influence and client-centered dimensions at a Midwestern community mental health center. The Counselor Rating Form (CRF) and Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory ere used to yield measures of these dimensions. Results support the hypothesis that clients would rate their counselors highest on each variable relative to counselor self-ratings and observers' ratings of counselors. Correlational analyses revealed a high degree of relationship among the social influence and client-centered dimensions for client and observer ratings. There was greater agreement between clients and observers than between clients and counselors or counselors and observers on 4 dimensions. Data suggest the existence of a common factor of perceived counselor behavior. The utility of the social influence constructs as measured by the CRF was supported, and this area of study appears to have direct relevance to research in applied professional settings. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)