Counselors' Conceptualizations of Caring in the Counseling Relationship

Caring is a concept that has been studied in numerous helping professions but has yet to be researched from a counseling perspective. In this qualitative research study, 13 master's‐level counseling interns were interviewed to better understand their perceptions of caring in the counseling relationship. Results suggest that these interns perceive that supporting desired outcomes, a personal capacity for caring, maintaining therapeutic conditions, mutuality in the counseling relationship, and a dynamic flow of communication are important attributes of the counseling relationship when caring is present The findings suggest further research that explores the concept of caring in the counseling relationship may be warranted.     

South Korean counselors’ perceived multicultural counseling competence: Relationship with openness to experience,perceived general counseling competence,and multicultural counseling education/practice

This study investigated variables related to the perceived multicultural counseling competence (MCC) of South Korean counselors. The relationship between perceived MCC and demographic information was explored, and effects of openness to experience, general counseling competence, and multicultural counseling education/practice on perceived MCC were examined.  Results revealed no relationship with demographic information and perceived MCC and significant effects of general counseling competence and multucultural counseling education/practice on perceived MCC. Implications for multicultural counseling training and future research are discussed.     

Cultural Values,Counseling Stigma,and Intentions to Seek Counseling Among Asian American College Women

The authors explored the extent to which Asian American college women's perceived stigma about counseling mediated the relationship between their adherence to Asian cultural values and intentions to seek counseling. Participants, 201 Asian American college women (age range = 18–24 years), completed measures of Asian cultural values, perceived stigma regarding counseling, and intentions to seek counseling, along with a demographic questionnaire. Asian cultural values were positively correlated with perceived counseling stigma; both Asian cultural values and social stigma were negatively correlated with intentions to seek counseling. The main analysis showed that perceived counseling stigma partially mediated the relationship between participants' Asian cultural values and intentions to seek counseling.     

Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help for an Eating Disorder: The Role of Stigma and Anticipated Outcomes

This study examined the relationship between self‐stigma, anticipated risks and benefits associated with seeking counseling, and attitudes toward seeking counseling among college students with disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. The results of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that self‐stigma and the anticipated risks and benefits significantly predicted attitudes toward counseling for people with disordered eating. In addition, self‐stigma had a stronger relationship with men's attitudes toward counseling than with women's, and anticipated benefits had a stronger relationship with women's attitudes toward counseling than with men's.     

Unraveling the relationship between organizational career management and the need for external career counseling

This article unravels the relationship between organizational career management and the need for external career counseling. We conducted a path analysis using data of 803 Flemish employees. The results indicate a three-way relationship between organizational career management and external career counseling. First, experiencing organizational career management reduces the need for external career counseling by enhancing career satisfaction. Second, it also reinforces the need for career counseling by encouraging employees to invest in their external employability. Finally, organizational career management and external career counseling are complementary as well. The implications of the results and the directions to be taken in future research are discussed.     

Counselor Sex Role Orientation,Flexibility, and Working Alliance Formation

The authors examined the hypothesized relationship among counselor androgyny, counselor flexibility, and the establishment of client-rated working alliances. In Study 1, 41 counseling students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1981a) and the Counselor Behavior Analysis Inventory (Gabbard, Howard, & Dunfee, 1986). Contrary to the hypothesis, there was no relationship between androgyny and counseling flexibility. In Study 2, 42 counseling students completed the BSRI and videotaped counseling sessions with a recruited client. Analyses revealed a significant relationship between counselor flexibility and client ratings of working alliance, but no relationship between counselor androgyny and counselor flexibility. Research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Structured Separation with Counseling: A Therapeutic Approach for Couples in Conflict

A three-month trial separation with counseling is suggested as a form of crisis intervention for couples in conflict. The purpose of the counseling is to help the marital partners understand their relationship, resolve their conflicts, decide whether their future relationship will be together or apart, and grow through the separation process. A one-year follow-up was conducted with eighteen couples who completed structured separation with counseling.     

Microaggressions and Perceptions of Cultural Humility in Counseling

The purpose of this study was to explore how microaggressions affect counseling outcomes. Participants were 128 racial/ethnic minority individuals who had been in counseling within the past year. Results indicated that identity attributions were associated with counseling outcomes (i.e., working alliance and perceived improvement in counseling). Furthermore, perceptions of cultural humility mediated the relationship between negative emotion due to rupture and counseling outcomes (i.e., working alliance and perceived improvement in counseling).     

Counseling Competence and Perceptions

A motion picture test of counselor perceptions of counseling interview segments was developed in order to analyze change in trainee perceptions during a practicum, and to explore the relationship between counselor perceptions of others and counseling competence. Cross-validation results from a group of 30 NDEA Counseling and Guidance Institute trainees demonstrated a significant relationship between post-practicum counseling competence and both pre-practicum and post-practicum test scores. The test appears to be relatively independent of other commonly used selection criteria.     

Broadening sources of Diginity and Affirmation in Work and Relationship

This article builds on assertions in Richardson's (2012, this issue) Major Contribution on counseling for work and relationship. In this reaction, I expand on the relevance and potential of the counseling for work and relationship perspective to enrich the field of counseling psychology. My comments focus on three considerations to further extend the cultural relevance of Richardson's work and relationship perspective: (1) broadening sources of dignity, (2) centering knowledge of marginalized communities, and (3) promoting psychologists' critical consciousness. Richardson's perspective holds great promise for being a guiding heuristic to inform counseling psychology research, theory, and practice.     

Is the Best Practices Movement Consistent With the Values of the Counseling Profession? A Critical Analysis of Best Practices Ideology

The counseling profession has increasingly embraced a medicalized vision of counseling processes. The latest manifestation of this vision is the best practices (BP) movement. This movement is critically examined to determine if it is consistent with the traditional values of the counseling profession. The author concludes that BP ideology is inconsistent with the value the counseling profession has traditionally placed on the counseling relationship and diversity.     

Individualistic and Collective Approaches to Counseling: Preference,Personal Orientation,Gender, and Age

This study examined preference for an individualistic or collective approach to counseling and the relationship of preference to (a) personal orientation to individualism-collectivism, (b) gender, and (c) age. Sixty-six female and 47 male participants completed an individualism-collectivism scale and a counseling approach preference measure. Results indicated situation-specific preferences for a collective or individualistic counseling approach, no relationship between personal orientation to individualism-collectivism and preference for a comparable counseling approach, and inconsistent, perhaps situation-specific, relationships of gender and age to counseling approach. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

美、加、澳大学心理咨询中心的鉴定标准及启示

该文介绍了国际心理咨询服务协会目前在美国、加拿大和澳大利亚所推行的大学心理咨询中心鉴定标准。该鉴定标准主要涉及心理咨询中心与大学社区的关系、心理咨询的作用和功能、心理咨询中心应遵循的伦理规范、心理咨询中心服务人员的资格与职责以及其它相关的指导原则。作者据此提出了对我国高校心理咨询工作的建议。     

Effects of client and counselor sex on client attendance at counseling

The present study examined the relationship between sex of client, sex of counselor, client's presenting problem, and the length of time the counseling dyad stayed together. Dyads engaged in personal counseling had significantly more sessions than dyads engaged in vocational counseling or test feedback. Clients receiving personal counseling were more likely to terminate unilaterally than clients receiving vocational counseling or test feedback.A preliminary version of this article was presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, September 1980.     

Using Hope in the Counseling Process

This article presents a framework for the development of hope in the counseling relationship. Although hope has often been viewed as an impediment to growth, the authors believe that realistic hope is an effective tool in a counseling relationship. The authors also examine the role of the counselor in the formulation of hope.     

Perspectives actuelles du conseil psychologique en orientation

The relation between psychology as a discipline and career counseling has always been difficult to precisely define in France. Sometimes they are considered as very close; sometimes they are seen as independent. The history of career counseling is full of this ambivalent relationship. Nowadays, current transformations in organizations and in the world of work, together with an increasing number of counseling demands, bring practitioners and researchers to reconsider this relationship. The present article explores the conditions of a psychological perspective of career counseling in France. The comparison with English speaking contexts serves as a starting point. Practical, theoretical and epistemological issues are explored in order to define propositions concerning a psychological perspective of career counseling in the French context. The strategic professional role of the psychologist is presented as a core competence in the practice of interviews. A holistic perspective, centered on the interaction between the context and the individual, from the point of view of an ecological development of well-being, is described and discussed.     

Career counselor training and supervision: role of the supervisory working alliance

The importance of career counseling within our educational and professional systems is clearly recognized, yet little attention has been directed toward explicating the career counseling supervision process. Research on personal–emotional counseling supervision has stressed the critical importance of the supervisory relationship. The purpose of this study was to better understand the nature and effect of the supervisory working alliance in the supervision of career counselors, using case study methodology. Results point to the importance of explicitly addressing the working alliance early in the work, exploration of affect in supervision, and cognizance of the power differential inherent in a training relationship.     

Neurotic-Symbiotic Counseling Relationships

Two individuals can be so closely involved with one another in a counseling relationship that they become mutually interdependent and yet neither experiences growth. This paper discusses several kinds of these neurotic-symbiotic counseling relationships and examines some possible reasons for the continuation of counseling in the absence of therapeutic change. Some general characteristics of neurotic-symbiotic relationships are discussed, and a comparison is drawn between these growth-preventing relationships and those that are productive of growth.     

Separation Versus Connection,The Gender Controversy: Implications for Counseling Women

Traditional developmental theories hold that separation is the primary goal of human emotional development. Numerous current theorists question this notion. They propose that a girl's development of self is dependent on mutually empathic relationships with primary caretakers. This revision of developmental theory has implications for counseling. The counseling relationship with a woman should provide validation for her relational skill and opportunity to practice relational competence within the counseling relationship. Boys and men may also have the need to develop relational competence to secure a strong sense of self. If so, a relational model of counseling would apply to them as well.     

THE INVOLUNTARY CLIENT

The involuntary client is a frequently encountered problem in employment counseling and other social agency counseling. Possible reasons for his recalcitrance are examined and their implications for the counseling relationship are discussed. Four necessary conditions for working with involuntary clients are proposed and strategies are suggested for meeting these conditions.