Little research has been done on how well prepared occupational therapists feel to perform the role of consultant. This study investigated the perceptions of occupational therapists acting as consultants in Florida schools, how much education/training they have received and how they perceive their consultation skills. Participants in the study were sent a questionnaire and measures of central tendency were calculated on each item. Crosstabulations using Fisher's exact test were completed to investigate any relationship between type of consultation model used and relationships with educators. A one way ANOVA was conducted to investigate any relationship between self-perceived consultant skills and age, amount of experience, and training. The results indicate that occupational therapists providing consultative services rate their abilities as more than adequate and believe formal training in consultation is only mildly important. No significant relationships were found between training and skills or model used and relationships with educators.

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology. / The global consulting industry has become a significant contributor to economies worldwide due to the growing requirement for specialised skills, but the industry encounters tense flaws and pitfalls. These pitfalls are related to the increasing amount of consulting engagements that fall short of their desired goal. The inability to fully achieve the goals agreed upon yields questions regarding the quality of service provided within the industry. It is believed that this inability to perform and to meet goals is due to gaps that occur within the consulting process. This research aims to determine whether there is a lack of quality in the full spectrum of the consulting process, which ultimately hampers the success of the consulting engagement. A non-empirical and qualitative research method was used to investigate the nature of the gaps and the main reasons for these gaps within the consulting process. A framework was developed in order to assist the researcher in understanding whether quality methods can successfully address or narrow the gaps in the consulting process that inhibit the success of consulting engagements or the ability to meet all requirements of consulting engagements. Validation was carried out through interviews with experts in the consulting industry. After a study of current literature it was clear that the fields of project management, change management and knowledge management are imperative when running a consulting engagement. Results of this study indicated that the framework is a viable quality methodology that can indeed be applied to address gaps in the consulting process. This is acquired through an interaction of fields such as systems thinking, audits, customer focus, corrective action and quality awareness. The framework was designed to add value and attempt to assure that the goals of consulting engagements can be fully achieved. Suggested further research includes the implementation of the framework in small consulting firms to investigate its practical usability and feasibility.

Occupational regulation of many professions has grown in magnitude and complexity in the past fifty years. Statutes relating to occupational regulation are often implemented by state legislatures without sufficient quantitative analysis. Prior studies have analyzed the need for regulation to protect consumers. Some research has been published which addresses the differences in the quality of services offered by regulated and unregulated professions. Due to lack of data, the effect of state regulation on commercial income tax preparers has not been quantified. Recently data from the 1979 cycle of the Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program (TCMP) has been made available by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These data provided the opportunity for analysis relating to questions of quality of services offered by commercial income tax preparers. The analysis evaluated differences in error rates or amounts between returns prepared in a highly regulated state--Oregon, a state with minimum regulation--California, and the remaining forty-eight unregulated states. Items were chosen from the tax returns to evaluate the integrity and competency of the tax preparer, the effect of continuing education, and the accumulated effect of the totals of income, adjustments, and deductions. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and non-parametric methods were used to test the hypotheses. Descriptive measures indicated that Oregon's error rates were among the lowest while California's errors were among the highest in the country. Cluster analysis grouped Oregon with states in the midwest while California grouped with other states in the sunbelt. The non-parametric tests indicated that Oregon's error rates and amounts were statistically smaller than the unregulated states. When Oregon was compared to the clustered states or to other states in the Northwest, the differences were not significant. When the samples from California were compared to those from the unregulated states, it was evident that the error rates were substantially higher in California. When California's errors were considered relative to the states from the sunbelt, the results were similar. The final comparison was made relative to levels of regulation. The errors on the returns from California were significantly larger than those from Oregon in all areas tested.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-251). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

The present study investigated the effects of consultant verbalizations on consultee verbalizations related to the specification and measurement of client behaviors and descriptions of client individual characteristics (i.e., traits). Statement categories for both the consultant and the consultee were related to the interview-outcome measure, i.e., the number of days of baseline collected by the consultee subsequent to the problem-identification interview. The present study also examined the relationship between the number of days of data collection agreed upon by the consultant and the consultee in the problem-identification interview (the interview-content measure) and the interview-outcome measure. The consultant's use of elicitation or emission in the selection of the interview-content measure was also related to the interview-outcome measure. Interviews of 50 consultants trained in behavioral consultation and participating in a field experience with public school teachers were analyzed. Consultant and consultee verbalizations were found to be highly interrelated, although weakly related to the interview-outcome measure. The content-interview measure was related to the interview-outcome measure in that the agreed-upon number of days of data collection was positively related to the subsequent collection of the same number of days of data. The odds that a consultee would return with the agreed-upon number of days of data (or more) as opposed to less than the agreed-upon number were found to be roughly six times greater for consultants who elicited rather than emitted the number of days of baseline to be collected.

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No description available.

Within the field of sport psychology the need for effective evaluation is now one of the most pressing requirements, yet it is a need that is often overlooked (Strean, 1998). The evaluation of the individual sport psychology consultant has been neglected in favour of the assessment and evaluation of the methods employed by these individuals. Despite this neglect, the relationship that exists between the sport psychology consultant (SPC) and the athletes they are consulting with is regarded as a significant component in successful sport psychology interventions (Petitpas, Giges & Danish, 1999). Clinical and counselling psychology literatures have demonstrated substantial evidence supporting the positive effect that an open, trusting and collaborative relationship between therapist and client has on therapeutic outcomes (e.g., Horvath, 2006). Yet little is known about the facilitative conditions needed to establish an effective collaborative relationship between the sport psychology consultant and athlete. The first purpose of this research project was to investigate SPCs, elite athletes and coaches' perceptions of the influence of SPC characteristics on the development of athletes' mental skills. The second purpose was to explore the facilitative conditions these individuals believed were necessary for establishing an effective consulting relationship. In order to accomplish these goals, four studies were conducted to assess what SPCs, athletes and coaches believed to be essential for effective consulting. The first study involved the completion of an online Consultant Effectiveness Form by 48 elite athletes; study two involved individual face-to-face interviews with nine elite athletes (6 male and 3 female, mean age = 32.67 years, SD = 11.05, mean competitive experience = 16.67 years, SD = 8.70) from a variety of sports (cricket, rugby, swimming, triathlon, dressage and wheelchair rugby) regarding their opinions of consulting effectiveness. In study three 13 accredited SPCs (9 males and 4 females, mean age = 44.8, SD = 10.6; mean years consulting experience = 11.1, SD = 4.7) were interviewed to examine their perceptions of consulting effectiveness. Finally, study four involved the interviewing of both members of four sport psychology consulting case studies regarding the effectiveness of their individual relationship. An inductive grounded theory approach was employed to analyse the interview data. Following extensive inductive content analysis the concepts and sub-categories that emerged were then organised into broader categories. Results indicated five categories important for an effective consulting relationship; (a) adopt a client-centred consulting approach, in which the SPC demonstrated trust, openness and a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities; (b) transference and countertransference were a reality of the consulting relationship which the SPC should be aware of; (c) an informal, flexible, collaborative relationship with clear boundaries and the SPC being friendly, but not friends with the client; (d) the client contributions to the consulting relationship included commitment, openness and honesty; and (e) the SPC contributed counselling skills, enthusiasm, fitted in with team culture and worked towards creating client independence. The findings provide clear guidelines for consulting practice to promote the development of effective consulting relationships between sport psychology consultants and their clients.

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1995. / "UMI number: 9538040." eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-234).