Some effects of counsellor training

The first two classes of the University of Aston's Diploma in Counselling course (1971/72, N = 5; 1972/73, N = 11) were measured on their ability to respond empathically and on their ability to discriminate the quality of other counsellors' responses at the beginning and the end of an academic year of full-time graduate study. Additionally, the 1972/73 group were administered a counsellor attitude scale. Significant differences were found between pre-and post-test means on all three measures for the 1972/73 group and on the communication of empathy for the 1971/72 group. The findings for the two Aston groups are discussed in relation both to each other and also to comparable American data.     

Some thoughts on counsellor training

The main object of counsellor training is to help trainees to offer an effective counselling relationship. It is suggested that this requires three main training elements: personal, practical, and academic. Ways in which the personal development of trainees may be fostered include individual support counselling and a weekly encounter group session. While constructive feedback is necessary, a minimum of evaluation is suggested so that the trainee can feel safe and free to explore himself. Pre-placement training focused on empathic understanding is considered essential before the trainee is allowed to embark upon supervised placement, and a programme of practical work training is outlined. Reasons for including academic work are also discussed, and appropriate academic content is suggested. Finally, the problem of obtaining suitably qualified trainers is considered, along with the desirability of trainers continuing to counsel, and the need for adequate administrative support for training programmes.     

Historical trends in counsellor education dissertations

There exists a dearth of literature on the content, research method and research design trends of dissertations in education. Within one large subfield of education (i.e. counsellor education), an online and full-text archive of dissertations has become available. This archive contains over 200 dissertations produced in Oregon State University’s Counselling Academic Unit from 1947 to 2014. Research questions concerning decadal differences in content, research method and research design were examined empirically. No decadal differences were discovered in the three aforementioned areas. Reasons for these findings were discussed.     

The postmodern counsellor: Some implications for practice,theory, research and professionalism

What is postmodernism? What are the implications of the death of God, science and the subject for counselling? Further questions include: To what extent does postmodernism, show that behavioural, humanistic, existential, and most psychoanalytic theories are delusional in that they would have the clients/patients believe that they are the core, the centre, the subject? What are the dangers of seeing ‘others’ practically, theoretically and when conducting research as either enhancing our narcissism and/or the counselling order? In terms of an ethical practice, can the postmodern counsellor stop counselling from reverting to a technique orientated mechanism of professional vested interests, and instead find a better way for us all to put the other first?     

Personality and executive functioning as risk factors in recidivists

The classification of an inmate population at a maximum security jail in Canada was undertaken to study factors correlated with recidivism. A total of 12 recidivists and 12 nonrecidivists were classified according to their index offenses, and a Criminal Record search was completed to verify their statements. A total of 15 non-offenders who had also undergone a criminal record check were included as controls. All participants were administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-168, Violence Risk Scale-Experimental Version, Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between the groups on scores for the Hypochondriasis, Psychopathic Deviate, and Hypomania scales of the MMPI-168. Significant differences were noted for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and the Violence Risk Scale. Discriminant analysis of the recidivists and nonrecidivists correctly classified at a 91.3% level.     

Family functioning, cultural orientation, and psychological well-being among university students in Lebanon

The author examined the relationship between perceived family functioning, the cultural orientations of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, and psychological well-being in a group of 182 university students in Lebanon. Factor analysis of the present data from the 12-item General Functioning Scale of the Family Assessment Device (GF-FAD) resulted in the extraction of one general factor, accounting for 43% of the variance. On the basis of North American cutoff values, the author found that 60.5% of the university students perceived their family as healthy and that 39.5% perceived their family as unhealthy. Male students perceived their families as somewhat more dysfunctional than did female students. Muslim students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than did Christian students. As the author expected, family functioning was associated with the culture-related personality dimension of horizontal collectivism and with perceived psychological well-being. Overall, the findings supported the structure and usefulness of the GF-FAD in the Lebanese context and the importance of viewing family functioning from the perspective of individual cultural orientation.     

Integrating theory and practice in counsellor training

A training programme for counsellors, based on the principle that counselling is a behavioural skill, is described. The programme aimed to improve client-centred skills, though the methods used could also be applied to other approaches to counselling. The pre- and post-course measures of skill were based on (a) a 45-minute recorded interview with a client, and (b) recorded responses to simulated clients, using a language laboratory. During the programme the skills were practised, with feedback on progress, using a behaviour category language. This enabled trainees to become more sensitively aware of others, to become aware of the discrepancies between their intentions and their actions, and to monitor their own progress in learning the skills. Striking changes were observed between the pre- and post-course measures. The results are discussed in relation to counselling training.     

Loss of feeling in the university counsellor: Some clinical illustrations of personal illness in a university context

Abstract

This paper is concerned with anaesthesia, loss of feeling or state of lifelessness, including numbness, helplessness and paralysis in the university counsellor, and explores briefly contributions to such states in a university counsellor.     

Confidentiality and the counsellor in general practice

The privacy of patients and their need for protection from harm are values respected by all professions. But words are open to interpretation. When counsellors join a multi-disciplinary Team, the variety of attitudes to confidentiality is often not made explicit, but is held within a broad corporate ideology. How then do counsellors protect the patient, and themselves, within the team approach to medical care? What are the consequences if they do not adhere to team norms? It is contended that corporate ideology is the main variable affecting the integration of a confidential counselling service within a medical setting.     

Spirituality in counsellor education: a new course

This article describes a graduate course in spirituality in counselling with the hopes of encouraging and supporting other counsellor educators in preparing and offering their own courses in this area. Learning objectives, activities and assignments are outlined. Students' personal experiences of the course are shared through excerpts from their final reflective papers.     

Work values: Some demographic and cultural correlates

Employment‐related values were recorded at two levels of scope: perceived importance of the work‐role and of particular job characteristics. Associations with workers' sex, age, employment status, and education level were significant. Work values also differed among countries with a different cultural heritage – historically catholic, historically communist, or historically protestant. Implications for research into job content and reactions and for evaluative judgments in the operation of traits, motives, and attitudes were considered.     

Some demonstrations of the complementary functioning of the eyes

The eyes have complementary shares in the production of binocular brightness. Artificial increase of the contribution of one eye automatically leads to an equal decrease of the contribution of the second eye. The responsible mechanism for increase and decrease of shares is called ’contour mechanism.’ Its functioning is explained by means of two stereoscopic patterns.     

The response-shift bias in a counsellor education programme

Student counsellors' pre-test, post-test and retrospective pre-test scores on the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale (CERS) were used to investigate the presence of a 'response-shift bias', to estimate the overall effectiveness of training and to promote counsellors' continuing self-reflection on their work. Results from three groups of trainees spanning 3 years revealed the presence of a response-shift bias, confirmed the effectiveness of the training programme and demonstrated the students' continuing self-analysis of their own counselling skill.     

The importance of case discussion in counsellor training

Case discussion is viewed as a central and integrating core of counsellor training, in that it brings together the 'theoretical', 'practical' and 'personal' components which form the basis of the training process. The aim of the trainer in case discussion is to help the trainee gain therapeutic understanding of the counselling relationship. This can be done at both micro and macro levels of analysis. An example is provided where a trainee was helped to view from a different perspective a counselling relationship that had become 'stuck'.