Things Unsaid in Group Counseling: An Empirical Taxonomy

Two studies were performed to examine things unsaid in group counseling. In Study 1, 28 group members described 317 things they had left unsaid during group counseling sessions. Cluster analysis identified 10 categories of things unsaid. In Study 2, the derived clusters were used by trained raters to categorize a new set of things unsaid by 28 group members. In addition, the relationships between the type of things unsaid, the stage of group development, and participant sex were examined. As hypothesized there were more advice and outside things unsaid during the orientation-inclusion stage and more positive feeling and empathic things unsaid during affection-cohesion stage of group development. There were also a number of significant interactions between participant sex and stage or group development for several categories of things unsaid. Implications for counseling are discussed.     

The Effect of Nonverbal Skills Training on Counselor Trainee Nonverbal Sensitivity and Responsiveness and on Session Impact and Working Alliance Ratings

Counselor trainees (N = 18) were randomly assigned to treatment (nonverbal sensitivity) or control (empathy training) conditions. Trainees saw a recruited client before (first 2 weeks) and after (last 2 weeks) a 15-week counseling methods class. Trainees rated their sensitivity to nonverbal behaviors, counseling self-efficacy, and the extent to which they focused on client nonverbal behavior. Clients filled out the Session Evaluation Questionnaire and Working Alliance Inventory at pre- and posttesting. Trained raters viewed videotapes of the counseling sessions and rated the extent that counselors focused on client nonverbal behavior. As hypothesized, trainees in the treatment condition, when compared with those in the control condition, increased their focus on client nonverbal behaviors. In addition, clients of treatment condition counselors showed significant differences in working alliance ratings. Trainees in both conditions increased their rating of nonverbal sensitivity and self-efficacy from pre- to posttesting. Implications are discussed.     

Career Counseling Specialty: History,Development, and Prospect

This article contains an overview of the historical development of the specialized practice, preparation standards, and credentialing of career counseling. Discussion also focuses on commonalities of career counseling, general counseling, and other specialized forms of counseling, with attention to questions and implications for the future of career counseling practice and standards.     

The 1994 ACA Model Legislation For Licensed Professional Counselors

Model legislation seeks to facilitate uniformity of counselor licensure laws and promote accepted professional standards. The text of the model bill as endorsed by the 1994 American Counseling Association Governing Council is provided with commentary accompanying those sections in which significant changes have occurred. The article concludes with 15 specific suggestions based on experiences gained in the development and implementation of previous legislation for licensed professional counselors.     

Characteristics of Adult Caretakers of Children and Youth Served by an Urban Child Welfare Agency

The child welfare system of the early 1990s was marked by the proliferation of home-based services. Research on the effectiveness of various home-based interventions indicates results have been equivocal. The need to make explicit the specific characteristics of the adults and children targeted for home-based services, particularly families from diverse cultural backgrounds, has been identified as a critically needed contribution to the literature. In this study, the characteristics and service utilization experiences of adults and families served in an urban, home-based, child welfare program was examined. The results are discussed in relation to findings on the characteristics and experiences of adults and families served in other settings. Implications for future research and service delivery are discussed.     

Judging Yourself as You Judge Others: Moral Development and Exculpation

This study investigated two main issues: Whether people's judgments about real-life moral transgressions are affected by the role they play in them and whether self-serving biases in such judgments vary with level of moral development. One-hundred twenty university students took Colby and Kohlberg's (1987) test of moral judgment and made open-ended and rating-scale judgments about three real-life transgressions they considered moral in nature. As expected, participants made more exculpatory judgments about transgressions they committed than they did about transgressions others committed, but participants did not judge transgressions committed against them more harshly than they judged transgressions committed against others. The higher participants scored on Kohlberg's test the less they externalized and excused their moral transgressions. Contrary to expectation, this relation also applied to moral judgments about transgressions committed by others against others. These findings have important implications for models of moral development and social cognition.     

SITUATION-SPECIFIC ASSERTIVENESS IN THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION AMONG UNIVERSITY WOMEN

Protective and risk factors for sexual victimization were examined in a sample of 274 undergraduate women. Assertiveness specific to situations with the opposite gender was protective at all three assessment times. Prior victimization, alcohol use, poor adjustment (as indicated by depression and anxiety), multiple sexual partners, and insecurity about relationships with the opposite gender were significant risk factors. Prevention efforts might be more effective if (a) behavioral practice of assertiveness was added to informational and attitudinal interventions; (b) assertiveness training focused specifically on relationships with the opposite gender; (c) medical and counseling services routinely assessed for prior victimization and other risk factors, and made appropriate referrals for women with victimization histories; and (d) alcohol education-programs were integrated with acquaintance-rape programs.     

IDENTIFYING WORK PREFERENCES AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE MULTIPLE DISABILITIES PRIOR TO BEGINNING SUPPORTED WORK

We evaluated a prework assessment for predicting work-task preferences among workers with severe multiple disabilities prior to beginning supported work. The assessment involved comparing worker selections from pairs of work tasks drawn from their future job duties. Results of workers' choices once they began their jobs in a publishing company indicated that the assessment predicted tasks that the workers preferred to work on during their job routines. Results are discussed regarding other possible means of determining preferred types of supported work.