Certification and licensure have been sources of debate and controversy for many years in the counseling profession. Counseling psychology, in contrast, has developed uniform standards for licensure across most of North America. Virtually no literature, though, has examined whether these phenomena have any impact on a client's perceptions of a counselor. This dissertation reports on a study designed to examine this issue. University student and university counseling center client perceptions of helper credential status and educational achievement were studied. Subjects reviewed written vignettes of a helper that included the person's credential status and level of educational achievement. Credential status was presented in one of three ways: not certified or licensed; certified but not licensed; certified and licensed. Educational achievement was presented in one of two ways: a master's degree in counseling or a doctoral degree in counseling psychology. Subjects then completed the Counselor Rating Form - Short (CRF-S) (Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983) and the 15 Personal Problems Inventory (15 PPI) (Cash, Begley, McCown, & Weise, 1975). Data from the CRF-S and the 15 PPI were analyzed using multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs). The data were analyzed in terms of three samples: a combined student-client sample (N = 127), a student sample (N = 96), and a client sample (N = 31). The results of the analysis of the CRF-S data showed a significant main effect for credential status in the combined and student samples (p < .01), but not in the client sample. A significant main effect was also found for educational achievement in the combined sample (p < .01) and student sample (p < .05), but not the client sample. Follow-up analyses showed that helpers with more credentials were generally rated better than helpers with fewer credentials, and that helpers with a master's degree were generally rated better than helpers with a doctoral degree. The results of the 15 PPI analyses also found a significant main effect for credential status in the combined student-client sample (p < .01) but no other significant main effects. The study's results are discussed in terms of their implications for the field of counseling psychology. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education

This qualitative study aimed to investigate psychotherapy clients’ phenomenological experience of positive regard. Though positive regard is broadly accepted as a useful and effective clinical tool across orientations, it has been under-researched and overlooked in favor of more clearly conceptualized variables, such as empathy and working alliance. Designed as a follow-up to a quantitative study that yielded a tentative factor structure and inventory for measuring positive regard (Psychotherapist Expressions of Positive Regard, PEPR), the study also aimed to elucidate the extent to which those findings could be replicated in a qualitative format. Following Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methodology, 15 psychotherapy clients, primarily white women, participated in semi-structured interviews eliciting the factors that contribute to their experience of positive regard in therapy, the absence of positive regard in therapy, and the impact of positive regard on the course of psychotherapy. Nine domains and several key findings emerged from the analysis. While clients named a wide range of therapist behaviors and actions that served as markers of positive regard in the relationship, three constituent attitudes appeared repeatedly throughout the CQR categories, suggesting an underlying tripartite structure of positive regard – warm authenticity, flexible responsiveness, and empathic understanding. Clients viewed positive regard as a crucial ingredient of therapy, suggesting that it facilitates self-disclosure, risk-taking, personal growth, and rupture resolution. In relationships where positive regard was lacking, clients became disengaged from treatment, and terminating without explanation was not uncommon. Clinical implications and recommendations for optimizing the experience of positive regard are offered. The substantial overlap and interdependence of positive regard with the other Rogerian facilitative conditions of congruence and empathy is discussed. Convergence and divergence between the PEPR factor structure and the results of the current study are also highlighted, with future directions proposed.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the content and extent of psychotherapy patients’ disclosures to their spouses or significant others about their experiences in therapy, the perceived impact of disclosure about therapy on the spousal relationship, and its perceived impact on the therapeutic relationship and on treatment satisfaction. Adult psychotherapy patients (N = 84) in individual treatment, who identified themselves as either married or in a significant romantic relationship completed the Disclosure About Therapy Inventory – Revised (DATI-R; Khurgin-Bott & Farber, 2014), a revision of the Disclosure About Therapy Inventory (see Khurgin-Bott & Farber, 2011). This 52-question survey was designed to explore the extent and content of patients’ disclosures to their therapists, and the extent and content of their disclosures about therapy to their spouses or significant others (“partners”). The DATI-R also includes three outcome measures: the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Christensen, Crand, & Larson, 1995) measures the quality of participants’ relationships with their partners, the Working Alliance Inventory – Short Revised (WAI-SR; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006) assesses the quality of their relationships (alliances) with their therapists, and the outcome items of the Disclosure to Therapist Inventory-III (DTI-III) assess their satisfaction with their treatment. Findings indicate that overall, patients were very disclosing to their therapists and moderately disclosing to their partners about their therapy. No demographic variables (including gender, marital status, duration of psychotherapy, and duration of marriage/relationship) were significantly associated with or predictive of the extent of patients’ self-disclosure about therapy. A significant positive association was found between the extent of disclosure to partners about therapy and the extent of self-disclosure to therapists. Greater extent of disclosure about therapy to partners was also associated with better quality of therapeutic alliances and with higher relationship satisfaction (with partners). Additionally, the quality of therapeutic alliances was strongly predictive of better treatment outcomes. These findings suggest that married (or coupled) patients in individual psychotherapy may benefit from the open discussion of their experiences in therapy with their spouses or significant others, or at least that such openness is characteristic of patients in satisfactory relationships (both therapeutic and marital). These findings are discussed in the context of the methodological limitations of the current study and the particular characteristics of the sample, and clinical implications and directions for future research are explored.

Counselor physical attractiveness has been shown to affect subject perceptions and expectations. One characteristic which is particularly at odds with the attractiveness ideal is obesity. This study examined the potential effect of counselor obesity level on subjects' perceptions, expectations, and willingness to pursue counseling. Two hundred twenty-five students (146 women and 79 men) participated. Each subject rated one of six randomly selected counselor descriptions, including a photograph when appropriate, on the dependent measures (i.e., Counselor Rating Form-Short Version, Personal Problem Inventory, and questions rating physical attractiveness and willingness to pursue counseling). The data were analyzed using 2 (Gender of Counselor) X 3 (Obesity Level: Obese, Nonobese, Control) and 2 (Gender of Counselor) X 3 (Obesity Level) X 2 (Gender of Subject) ANOVA and MANOVA techniques, as appropriate. Male subjects perceived obese counselors to be less expert than did females. No other statistically significant differences based on Counselor Obesity Level were identified. Instead, main effects for both Gender of Counselor and Gender of Subject were obtained. Generally, the woman counselor was rated more positively than the man. Also, women subjects generally gave more positive ratings than did men. While the effects identified were statistically significant, their small effect sizes and small mean differences may limit their practical effect. Obesity level does not appear to affect how counselors are perceived or treated, particularly when they are moderately obese. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services