Racial similarity of client and counselor and client satisfaction with counseling.

Client evaluations of a precollege counseling interview were obtained for 13 black and 13 white students counseled by 3 experienced black counselors and 8 experienced white counselors. Black students tended to react more favorably to black and to white counselors than did white students. In general, racial similarity of client and counselor was not an important factor in these counseling interviews. The hypothesis that counselors are differentially effective in counseling students of a different racial background than their own lacks support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived counselor characteristics, client expectations, and client satisfaction with counseling.

Examined (a) the relationship between perceived counselor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness and client satisfaction; (b) the relationships between specific client expectations on perceived counselor characteristics and client satisfaction; and (c) the effects of actual counselor experience level on perceived counselor characteristics and client satisfaction. The 55 counselors who participated in the study were either beginning or advancing practicum students, doctoral-level interns, or PhD counselors; clients were 72 students who sought help at a university counseling center. Clients completed an Expectations About Counseling (EAC) questionnaire before entering counseling, as well as the Counseling Evaluation Inventory (CEI) and Counselor Rating Form (CRF) after several weeks of counseling. CRF and CEI were correlated, but EAC scores were not strongly related to the CEI or CRF scores. Actual counselor experience level did not differentially affect CEI or CRF scores. Findings are discussed in terms of several variables (e.g., legitimate power, source variables, and client satisfaction) that may differentially affect the influence process over time. (32 ref) (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)     

Physical attractiveness: Interactive effects of counselor and client on counseling processes.

192 college students, selected on the basis of their scores on an attractiveness battery, assumed the role of a client having social skill problems during 3 counseling sessions. Exp I was a factorial design in which the major variables were counselor's physical attractiveness, client's physical attractiveness, and sex of client. Exp II studied the interaction between physical attractiveness of the counselor and client's susceptibility to attractiveness as determinants of outcome. In both experiments, Ss roleplayed a client who interacted with a female counselor. The counselor's physical attractiveness had a major impact on her perceived therapeutic effectiveness and the client's expectancies about future success, irrespective of the client's physical attractiveness or sex. Male clients generally attributed a higher level of skill to the female counselor than did female clients. When the counselor was unattractive, clients who were more susceptible to attractiveness perceived her as less skillful than clients who were less susceptible to attractiveness. Physical attractiveness of the counselor accounted for over 50% of the variance in perceived effectiveness and future expectancy measures in both experiments. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal influence process in real-life counseling: Investigating client perceptions, counselor experience level, and counselor power over time.

Examined the interpersonal influence process within an actual counseling context over an average of 8 sessions. Counselors were either beginning or advanced practicum students or doctoral interns (n?=?27); clients were 31 students who sought counseling at a university center. Before and after counseling Ss completed the Counselor Rating Form, the Expectations about Counseling measure, and the Counselor Perceptions Questionnaire. Results indicate that (a) the actual counselor experience level did not affect client perceptions of the counselor; (b) perceived counselor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness changed over time, but not in the same direction across counselors; (c) different levels of client need did not affect clients' perceptions of counselor characteristics; and (d) counselors rated as highly attractive indicated they had more therapeutic power over clients than counselors rated as moderately attractive. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model and a metalanguage for research on psychological counseling.

A model of 2-person interaction in psychological counseling, which is derived from A. Schutz's (1967) phenomenological theory of social relations, and a computer-assisted metalanguage based on case-grammar theory are presented, and their applicability to the analysis of natural language in counseling is argued. The model specifies that counselor and client work to make each other's natural-language displays informative by tacitly expecting that any display of talk or other conduct will have as its context of interpretation the counselor or client's prior knowledge of (a) typical relationships of social interaction, and (b) methods of speaking that provide a recognizable structure to an utterance. Some preliminary findings are presented from a metalanguage analysis of the patterns of verb usage by a counselor and client in an actual series of counseling interviews. Findings are discussed in terms of the model and are treated as initial evidence of concerted action and of how the informative display of recognizable linguistic structures may act to bring about such coordinating actions. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor and client sex pairing: The effects of counseling problem and counselor sex role orientation.

291 male and 246 female undergraduates viewed a videotape of a client of the same sex with either a vocational or personal social problem, counseled by either a masculine or feminine male or female counselor. Three times during the videotape, Ss predicted the client's next response by selecting 1 of 4 affective self-reference statements. At the conclusion of the videotapes, Ss rated the counselors using the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI) and the Counselor Rating Form (CRF). Results indicate significant main effects and interactions of counselor sex and sex role and client sex and presenting problem for the BLRI, the CRF, and S affective self-references. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of client aphasia on client evaluation and counselor behavior.

Examined whether differences exist in counselor behaviors toward and evaluation of an aphasic client in comparison to a nonaphasic client and whether such differences are related to counselor training. 40 counseling students were divided into 2 groups of 20, based on level of counselor training. 10 Ss in each group counseled individually with an aphasic-speaking client for 10 min, and the remaining 10 in each group counseled with the same client as a nonaphasic speaker. Counselor behaviors and evaluations of the confederate client were compared. Results demonstrate that irrespective of training, client aphasic speech significantly affected counselor behavior and evaluation of the client. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of client diagnosis--cancer--on counselor decisions.

Numerous authorities have pointed to the fear of cancer among professionals as a stumbling block to service delivery for cancer patients. Yet systematic efforts to study the parameters and ramifications of this impact on health-care delivery personnel are few. In this study, 34 practicing counselors were asked to complete a series of tasks related to counseling and service delivery with the cancer patient. Ss were administered Form O of the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons Scale to assess their attitudes toward individuals with 4 disease-related disabilities (i.e. renal failure, heart disease, cancer, and paraplegia). Results strongly support general conclusions in the literature that counselors are likely to provide less counseling and case services to cancer patients than to patients with other equally devastating disease-related disabilities. A relationship was demonstrated between case service, attitudes toward the cancer patient, and personal fear of cancer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral analysis of client learning style during counseling.

Examined differences in the verbal behavior of 17 undergraduates classified as deep–elaborative learners and 13 undergraduates classified as shallow–reiterative learners on the basis of their scores on the Inventory of Learning Processes. Ss discussed personal problems in 2 30-min interviews with 1 of 2 female counselors. Verbal behavior of deep–elaborative Ss was rated as clearer, deeper, and more conclusion-oriented and personal than that of shallow–reiterative Ss by 2 male trained raters. Solely on the basis of this verbal behavior, both the raters and the counselors correctly identified the information-processing group to which each S belonged. There were no differences between groups on counseling satisfaction. Discussion of relationship problems was rated most deep–elaborative and discussion of academic problems most shallow–reiterative. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male and female counselor and client perceptions of four levels of counselor touch.

60 male and 60 female counselors (aged 20–63 yrs) and 60 male and 60 female clients (aged 19–65 yrs) from the outpatient mental health clinic of a military hospital each evaluated a videotaped vignette of a counselor–client interaction with 1 of 4 counselor touch conditions depicted: no touch, touch of client's hand, touch of client's shoulder, semi-embrace. Dependent measures were a counselor rating form and a personal attribute inventory. Three-way multivariate analyses of variance (treatment?×?S gender?×?S's client vs counselor status) yielded no significant interactions. However, significance was obtained for the main effects of treatment and S's client vs counselor status. Subsequent analyses revealed that the counselor in the semi-embrace condition was perceived as less trustworthy than those in any of the other conditions. Also, clients perceived the videotaped counselor as more expert, attractive, and trustworthy than did counselors. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cognitive style and counselor–client compatibility on client growth.

Tests of 2 cognitive style dimensions (serialism–holism and field dependence–independence; measured by the Gandlemuller Test and the Group Embedded Figures Test, respectively) were administered to 60 counselor trainees in graduate clinical and counseling psychology programs and 60 volunteer clients drawn from a university-level applied psychology course. 32 counselor–client pairs matched or mismatched on the 2 dimensions were formed. Counselor and client pairs engaged in 2 50-min therapy sessions that focused on client self-enhancement. In independent rating sessions, matching effects for field dependence–independence were obtained in clients' subjective ratings of improvement in self-exploration skills and in clients' and counselors' subjective ratings of the ease of relating with each other. Implications and applications for achieving maximum counselor–client compatibility in a person–environment interaction model are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of a sex-fair counselor and her client.

Investigated the effects of sex-fair counseling on 18 male and 21 female undergraduates' perceptions of (a) a female counselor, (b) a same-sex client, and (c) their own attitudes. The experimental design was a 2?×?2 factorial in which a female or a male client discussed traditional or nontraditional career plans with the counselor. The only significant findings regarding perceptions of the counselor were that women anticipated that they would feel more comfortable with the counselor who facilitated nontraditional career exploration than did men. Women tended to evaluate traditional and nontraditional clients similarly, whereas men evaluated the traditional client more favorably regarding academic achievement. Ss' own attitudes regarding occupational choice did not differ significantly between the 2 types of counseling, although the nontraditional condition did seem to result in greater flexibility among women. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client and counselor characteristics and engagement in counseling.

Examined relations among various client and counselor characteristics and engagement in counseling for more than 1 session with 5 female and 4 male practicum counselors and 203 of their clients (128 women, 75 men) who had come to a university counseling center for the 1st time. After the initial interview, clients rated counselors' interest, helpfulness, competence, warmth, and genuineness; counselors rated clients' verbalness, intelligence, capacity for insight, likability, and the severity of clients' problems. Clients also indicated the extent to which counselors identified concerns for which the clients did not initially seek counseling. Findings show that 71 clients returned for more than 1 counseling session. Counselors' perceptions of clients as more disturbed and counselors' desire to see the clients were positively associated with clients' returning for counseling after intake. Identification of concerns for clients by counselors at intake was also positively related to engagement in counseling. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of counselor profanity in counseling.

60 male and female 24–50 yr old recovering alcoholic counseling clients were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 male counselors and to 1 of 2 treatment conditions. In the nonstandard English condition, the counselor casually and passively introduced 4 profane words. The standard English condition was identical except in respect to the use of these specific words. On client self-report and behavioral measures, which cut across all schools of counseling, counselors who used nonstandard English were judged to be less effective and satisfying. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor and client ethnicity and counselor intake judgments.

Used archival research to compare intake judgments made by women counselors about women clients seen for an initial intake interview. Sociopsychological variables, which have been shown to influence counselor judgments, were controlled for in the research design. 41 African-American and 41 White female clients (aged 17–38 yrs), matched on demographic and pretreatment variables, were seen by African-American and White female counselors. Chi-square analysis and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed no significant differences in counselor judgments for the matched client groups. Results support the need to control for sociopsychological variables that may influence counselor judgments when examining potential bias as a function of ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of counselor sex and sex role and client sex on clients' perceptions and self-disclosure in a counseling analogue study.

Studied the effects of client sex and counselor sex and sex role on the counseling relationship, using an analogue format in which 35 male and 39 female undergraduate students participated in simulated counseling interviews. Ss were stratified by sex and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: (a) masculine male counselor, (b) feminine male counselor, (c) masculine female counselor, and (d) feminine female counselor. At the conclusion of the interview, the S completed the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (Form OS-M-64) and a questionnaire assessing the S's satisfaction with the counseling session. The audiotapes of the sessions were rated by trained judges for (a) positive affective self-references, (b) negative affective self-references, and (c) total non-affective self-references of the Ss. Male Ss were more satisfied with the counseling process than female Ss. Male Ss indicated greater satisfaction and a higher level of counselor regard with feminine counselors than with masculine counselors, regardless of counselor sex, but female Ss indicated greater satisfaction and a higher level of counselor regard with masculine counselors than with feminine counselors, regardless of counselor sex. Male Ss talked most about themselves with feminine female counselors and least about themselves with masculine female counselors, while female Ss talked most about themselves with feminine male counselors and least about themselves with masculine male counselors. These findings are related to the feminist pleas for same-sex pairing in the counseling relationship. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of client affective self-disclosure and counselor experience on counselor verbal behavior and perceptions.

60 untrained, trained, and professional counselors (average age 20 yrs, 26 yrs, and 38 yrs, respectively) responded to an audio presentation of client affective self-disclosures consisting of either high or low intimacy content. Quality and type of response were measured. Ss then completed a reaction form to assess their clinical impressions of the client. No intimacy effects were found. In contrast, consistent differences for experience occurred. Results indicate that untrained Ss made lower quality responses than either trained or professional Ss with no differences between professionals and counselors-in-training. In terms of response type, untrained Ss relied on direct guidance and silence; trained Ss preferred reflection, and professionals utilized silence, open question, and reflection. When silence as an initial response was removed from consideration, the preferred mode of responding for untrained and trained Ss was strengthened. In contrast, professionals utilized 2 responses (reflection and open question) equally. Finally, the counselor reaction data indicated that untrained Ss had less liking for the client as a person and viewed the client as less motivated to change than trained or professional Ss. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client and counselor verbal category systems for the analysis of trainees' counseling.

Developed a set of operationally defined verbal behavior categories for clients, the client verbal behavior system (CL-VBS), and for counselors, the counselor verbal behavior system (CO-VBS), to match the categories in the training models developed by R. R. Carkhuff and W. A. Anthony (1979) and by A. F. Ivey and J. Authier (1978) to study the acquisition of the skills and their impact on client responses and outcomes. Experts (the 1st 2 authors) established the content validity. Reliability was ascertained by examining agreement among 12 judges and their concordance with a criterion set by the authors. Both reliabilities were highly significant. The criterion analysis revealed sources of errors which showed how to improve the systems' designs and training in a 2nd study with an additional 6 judges (graduate counseling students). As a result of this study, the CL-VBS and the CO-VBS are ready for the study of the efficacy of the Carkhuff and Ivey training models, the impact of counselor skills on clients, reciprocal interaction effects, and the impact of these factors on client outcomes. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)