A primary goal of clinical supervision in counselor education programs is to develop trainees who express a level of self-awareness, competence, and self-efficacy from which to further develop as a counselor. A vital component of this process is for supervisees to disclose their thoughts and feelings about their clients, their self as a person, their work as a counselor, and experiences with their supervisor. However, current research suggests that it is common for supervisees to hold back personal and professional information from their supervisor leading to missed learning and growth opportunities. Through self-disclosure, trainees receive positive and negative supervisor feedback. It is important to examine how this may influence trainee confidence. It is hypothesized that self-efficacy will be threatened by low levels of supervisee self-disclosure. This study explored the relationship that exists between supervisee self-disclosure and supervisee self-efficacy, and what role the working alliance plays in the relationship. A total of 71counselor education students at three CACREP accredited institutions in Florida participate in the study. All participants had experienced at least one full semester of practicum or internship. A sub-sample of the 71, comprised of 32 participants, was also selected based on their responses to an abridged version of one of the three instruments used in the study. Both samples received equal statistical analyses. Overall, the results suggest that counselor education practicum or internship student self-disclosure was not able to explain their self-efficacy. Furthermore, when the participants' perception of the supervisory working alliance was added to their level of self-disclosure, the statistical results were mixed depending on the sample used.

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.

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.

The first semester of practicum is a difficult time for counseling students as they learn to integrate knowledge and theory into clinical practice, often evoking high levels of anxiety (Barbee, Scherer, & Combs, 2003; Ronnestad & Skovholt, 1993) and limiting counselor selfefficacy (Bernard & Goodyear, 2009; Melchert et al., 1996). Practicum is the first opportunity counselors-in-training have to apply theoretical knowledge in a professional setting, use new clinical skills, and test how well they fit into the field of counseling (O‟Connell & Smith, 2005). Additionally, if counselor educators do not fully understand the process counselors in training develop counselor self-efficacy, they may be overlooking opportunities to educate a new generation of counselors or using their time, energy and resources in areas that may not be the most efficient in counselor development. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an embedded, rich-media distributed learning environment added to practicum had on the development of counselor self-efficacy, reduction of anxiety and effect on treatment outcomes for counselors in training in their first semester of practicum. This study found the use of distributed learning to extend education beyond the classroom significantly and positively affected the development of counselor selfefficacy, had mixed statistical results on the reduction of anxiety and did not have an affect on treatment outcome. Furthermore, the study used hierarchical linear modeling to see if the characteristics of individual practicums affected the three main constructs, the results did not find a significant effect from the groups. iv The results of the study produced several implications for counseling. First, if counselor educators help counselors in training become more aware of counselor self-efficacy, the students can better understand how the construct affects their anxiety, their comfort with expanding or improving their clinical skills and the approach they take to a client, session or treatment plan. A second implication is that using an embedded, rich-media learning environment may help the counselors in training to develop their clinical skills. The results of this study imply that utilizing technology and discussions beyond the classroom is beneficial for (a) increasing the students‟ counselor self-efficacy, (b) normalizing the emotions the students may experience and (c) improving the methods for development through vicarious learning. Also, as technology continues to evolve and as education continues to adapt by integrating technology into the classrooms, counselor educators should begin exploring how to best use technology to teach students during practicum. Traditionally, based on the nature of counseling, practicum has been an interpersonal experience, but the results of the current study imply the methods of extending learning beyond the traditional class time is beneficial. Finally, as counselor educators strive to increase students‟ counselor self-efficacy early in practicum, in an environment that contains anxiety and self-doubt (Bernard & Goodyear, 2009; Cashwell & Dooley, 2001) using vicarious learning through video and online discussions can assist in accomplishing the goal.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate post-secondary students' perceptions of the role and functions of their high school counselor. One hundred seventy-three students currently attending a community college in a suburban area of a large metropolitan city participated in this study. The participants were asked to complete a survey developed by the researcher. Five research questions (listed below) guided this study. 1) Do post-secondary students perceive that high school counselors are performing the functions outlined by the American School Counselor Association (see Appendix B and C), and are there gender and ethnic differences? 2) How are perceptions of services rated as "very" important by post-secondary students, and are there gender and ethnic differences? 3) How are perceptions of services rated as "often" performed by post-secondary students, and are there gender and ethnic differences? 4) What are post-secondary student's perceptions of the importance with which specific counseling functions are performed as compared to perceptions of frequency? 5) What is the level of unmet need for counseling services perceived as "very" important by post-secondary students? The results indicated that only two percent of high school counselors performed all functions identified on the questionnaire, however the majority of participants indicated counselors performed nearly one-third of the functions. The functions were noted as academic, career, or personal/social domain. The most important function and the most often performed function rated by participants was discussing graduation requirements and the least important as well as the least performed function was identified as assistance with relationship issues. In general, there was not a significant difference between gender and ethnicity. The percentage of participants who indicated a function was "very" important, however was "seldom" or "never" performed was above 50% for most functions. / Ph. D.

This exploratory research study investigated perceptions of practicum counselor trainees to help understand how prepared they believed they were for supervision. Based upon common elements of various developmental models of supervision, this study examined counselor trainees’ perceptions of their preparedness for practicum supervision based upon: (a) expectations of supervision; (b) understanding of the structure and formats used in supervision; (c) receptivity to and use of feedback in supervision; and (d) the evaluative component of supervision. This study also investigated possible explanations as to what factors may lead counselor trainees to feel more or less prepared for practicum supervision. The participants in this study were 156 counseling students enrolled in practicum courses at 27 CACREPaccredited counseling programs across the United States during the spring semester of 2005. The instrument used in this study was the Counselor Trainee Preparedness Perceptions Survey - Practicum Supervision (CTPPS-PS) survey, developed by the researcher. The CTPPS-PS was administered anonymously online through an Internet link distributed to students by practicum instructors or in paper format. To minimize the effects of varying practicum supervision experiences incurred by the sample participants, data collection was restricted to a 30-day period during the first half of the academic semester. Findings from this research revealed significant positive relationships between counselor trainees' overall perceptions of preparedness for practicum supervision and perceived preparation for various aspects of supervision. For the various aspects of supervision, the strongest relationships were found between overall perceptions of preparedness and preparation for what is required in supervision and to accept guidance and support through supervision. The weakest relationship was between overall perceptions and preparation for supervisory evaluation. These research findings also revealed significant positive relationships between counselor trainees' overall perceptions of preparedness for practicum supervision and perceptions of practicum supervision experience to date as well as with comfort experienced with receiving feedback in supervision. Another significant finding was consistently higher overall perceptions of preparedness for trainees being supervised by part-time faculty and for trainees attending universities with doctoral counseling programs. The findings of this study may encourage counselor educators to augment their programs and courses with supervision preparation strategies so that students may begin practicum feeling better prepared than the participants in this study. For supervisors, findings from this study can form the basis for a dialogue at the onset of supervision to determine the needs of counselor trainees, and thus help mitigate potential obstacles to practicum experiences resulting from areas lacking in preparation for supervision.

No description available.

No description available.