This study was designed to measure the effectiveness of accreditation standards (specifically, CACREP Standards for counselor education programs) on the development of counseling skills. A measure of counseling skill (The Counselor Rating Form-Short Version) was used to measure the counseling skills of counselor trainees from various masters programs. These students were enrolled in a doctoral program in counselor education and were taking their first semester practicum. A T-Test of Independent Means revealed that the student counselors from CACREP accredited masters programs scored significantly higher on the CRF-S than did students from non CACREP accredited programs. These students generally had higher levels of counseling skill as judged by this measure. Given the convenience of the sample and its size, results must be analyzed carefully. These results do, however, seem to suggest the necessity of further study. There are several conclusions that may be reasonably drawn from these results. The emphasis that the CACREP Standards place on the supervised experience may account for the difference in skill levels between the two groups. Prior research and student self-report support this theory. The fact that these requirements are daunting to unaccredited programs suggests a gap in experiential learning between the two groups.

This study compared beginning and advanced counselor education students on self-reported sex-role orientation and preference for selected counseling responses. It was assumed that sex-role socialization leads to restrictive attitudes that make it difficult for students to acquire and use selected interpersonal counseling skills. It was anticipated that counselor education training programs would provide a means for students to overcome the limitations imposed by sex-role socialization practices. Subjects in this study were 87 counselor education graduate students, 34 advanced students enrolled in the final two courses required for the master's degree and 53 beginning students enrolled in the first course in the master's degree sequence. Based on scores obtained from the Bern Sex-Role Inventory, subjects were divided into three groups: (1) feminine, (2) androgynous, (3) masculine. The Response Alternatives Questionnaire was used to determine subjects' preference for counseling responses.

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There is a high need for competent professional counselors because of the increasing number of children and adults presenting mental health concerns each year in the United States (National Institute of Mental Health, 2012). Counselor educators are tasked with the duty of preparing counselors-in-training (CITs) to be competent clinicians. In order for counseling professionals to be considered competent clinicians, they must demonstrate competence in three domains: (a) knowledge, (b) skills, and (c) behavior (ACA, 2014; CACREP, 2009). The goal of this study was to contribute to further understanding the most effective instructional approach to facilitating role play while instructing pre-practicum counseling students. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of virtual simulation training on the development of basic counseling skills, the immersion experience, levels of anxiety, and levels of counselor self-efficacy (CSE) among CITs using student-to-avatar and student-to-student role play. A quasi-experimental research design was used to investigate the effect of the treatment on the constructs. The results of this study found that there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups across all four constructs. A spilt-plot analysis of variance, trend analysis, and repeated measures between factor multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. The results of this study indicated that exposure to virtual simulation training did not affect the development of basic counseling skills, immersion experience, counselor self-efficacy, and anxiety. The results also showed that virtual simulation did not hinder the development of basic counseling skills, or negatively influence immersion experience, counselor self-efficacy or anxiety.