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The counselor is an important contributor to client outcome. Research findings about therapist effects are mixed. In this study positive psychology variables, hope and optimism, were evaluated with client outcome. The sample for this study consisted of 43 graduate-level counselor trainees in the first or second practicum semester and their adult clients in a university’s community counseling clinic. Results revealed no statistically significant relationships between student counselors’ hope and optimism and client outcomes. Post hoc analysis of student hope and their post-graduation expectations, revealed statistically significant relationships. Implications for counselor educators are presented along with areas for future research.

Ethical and competent professional counselors are needed to provide quality counseling services to the public. Counselor educators and supervisors have the responsibility of training competent counselors. Furthermore, counselors and counselors-in-training have the responsibility of continually assessing their own development and implementing measures to increase their competency. Assessment instruments have sought to measure counseling competencies through evaluating counseling skills. However, a paucity of research exists that examines counseling competencies in a comprehensive manner using a psychometrically sound approach. Therefore, a need exists for a psychometrically sound assessment instrument that measures the construct of counseling competencies in a holistic manner. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Counseling Competencies Scale© (CCS; UCF Counselor Education Faculty, 2009), an instrument designed to measure counseling competencies, within the areas of counseling skills, professional dispositions, and professional behaviors. The sample included 81 counseling practicum students and 21 counseling practicum supervisors from two graduate counselor education programs at public institutions accredited by the Council for Accreditation for Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) within the United States (one program in the southeast and another in the northwest). The practicum supervisors evaluated the counseling competencies of the counseling practicum students per the CCS at the semester midpoint and conclusion. Additionally, the counseling practicum students evaluated their own counseling competencies per the CCS at the semester midpoint and conclusion. Furthermore, the counseling practicum students and supervisors both iv completed a demographic questionnaire developed by the researcher. The data analysis procedures employed to test the research hypotheses were: (a) factor analysis, (b) Pearson product-moment correlation (two-tailed), and (c) Cronbach‟s alpha. The exploratory factor analyses yielded five midterm CCS factors ([a] Factor 1: Assessment and Application, [b] Factor 2: Professional Behaviors and Dispositions, [c] Factor 3: Beginning Counseling Skills, [d] Factor 4: Advanced Counseling Skills, [e] Factor 5: Directive Counseling Skills) and four final CCS factors ([a] Factor 1: Professional Dispositions and Behaviors, [b] Factor 2: Counseling Skills, [c] Factor 3: Assessment and Application, [d] Factor 4: Growth). Additionally, the CCS exhibited strong internal consistency reliability for both the individual factors and the overall models. The interrater reliability among raters yielded a low correlation (Skills [r = .436], Dispositions [r = .515], Behaviors [r = .467], and Total [r = .570]). Furthermore, an assessment of criterion-related validity yielded a high correlation (r = .407) between the final total score on the CCS and the students‟ final grade in the counseling practicum course. The results of the statistical analyses support the development of the CCS, a promising assessment instrument for evaluating counseling competencies within counselors-in-training. Through the further development of the CCS, counselor educators and supervisors will have a sound method for assessing their students‟ levels of counseling competencies and learning outcomes. Additionally, the CCS may support counselor educators and supervisions in their ethical and legal responsibilities as teachers, evaluators, and gatekeepers for the counseling profession. Furthermore, the CCS offers counselors-in-training a tool to assist them in understanding and developing their level of comprehensive counseling competencies.

This study examined the influence of multicultural training, multicultural discussions in supervision, and the supervisory working alliance on multicultural counseling competence. The sample consisted of 57 doctoral counseling interns, doctoral graduate students and post-doctoral students in counseling and clinical psychology. Participants completed several instruments including a demographic questionnaire, the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory - Trainee, and the Multicultural Counseling Inventory. They filled out two questionnaires created for this study, one assessing multicultural discussions in supervision and another quantifying their multicultural training experience. Data analyses included multiple hierarchical regression, utilizing the Hayes PROCESS macro. Multicultural discussions in supervision moderated the relationship between the supervisory working alliance and multicultural counseling competence, but did not significantly moderate the relationship between multicultural training and multicultural counseling competence. Findings suggest that when multicultural discussions in supervision are positive, they significantly increases the strength of the relationship between good supervisory working alliance and multicultural counseling competence in psychology trainees. The findings may inform supervision practices and improve multicultural counseling competence in psychology graduate student trainees.

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