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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Is the counselor an "active ingredient" in substance abuse rehabilitation? An examination of treatment success among four counselors.

The impact of the counselor in substance abuse rehabilitation has been questioned. The unexpected resignations of two counselors provided a natural opportunity to examine the effects of counselor assignment in a methadone maintenance treatment program with the effects of the medication philosophy, program rules, and supplementary services held constant. Sixty-one patients who had been assigned to these two counselors were assigned to four other counselors in a virtually random manner. It was reasoned that if the new counselor had relatively little impact, then there would be little difference in performance from pre to posttransfer or among the four caseloads during the 6-month period following the transfer. Performance measures included urinalysis results, methadone dosage, prescriptions for psychotropic medications, employment, and arrest rates. Results indicated statistically significant and clinically meaningful differences in the posttransfer performance of the four caseloads. One counselor significantly reduced the average methadone dose of his/her caseload as well as the number of patients prescribed ancillary medications, while concurrently reducing positive urine tests, unemployment and arrests. In contrast, another counselor significantly increased the average methadone dose in his/her caseload but still showed increases in positive urine tests and unemployment. As has been found in prior studies, background and formal education differences among the counselors were not related to the observed performance differences. However, differences in the content and process of counseling among the counselors were associated with the differences in patient outcome. These process differences are discussed in relation to earlier studies of professional psychotherapy.

Combined Modality Therapy↗
PubMed1981

Treatment attitudes of recovered alcoholic counselors and nonalcoholic counselors.

The advent of the profession of alcoholism counseling has generated concern about the clinical treatment attitudes of counselors who are recovered alcoholics. The treatment attitudes of eight recovered counselors and eight nonalcoholic counselors at a U.S. Navy alcohol treatment facility were compared by rating the counselors' perception of client clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and preference for treatment modality and goals. Recovered counselors perceived: greater psychological dependence on alcohol, higher probability of substitution of another drug for alcohol, psychologists as less helpful, Antabuse as more helpful, abstinence as a more necessary treatment goal, and transactional analysis as a more helpful treatment. No significant differences remained between the attitudes of both groups of counselors after intervening counselor characteristics (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous activity and alcohol training experience) were controlled. The findings may indicate reticence among nonalcoholic counselors to challenge traditional alcoholism treatment methods and theories.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Paraprofessional versus professional drug abuse counselors: attitudes and expectations of the counselors and their clients.

Three groups of methadone maintenance and drug-free outpatient counselors, ex-addict paraprofessionals (EXAs), non-ex-addict paraprofessionals (NEAs), and degreed professional counselors (PROs), were contrasted in terms of their views of drug abuse and drug treatment, their attitudes toward and expectations for their clients, and in terms of their clients' attitudes toward them. Across groups, counselors agreed on the major cause of drug abuse, the critical factor in treatment, the definition of treatment success, and their expectations for client success. While clients of the three groups viewed their counselors are equally able to understand them and were equally confident of the counselors, the clients of EXAs saw their counselors as more knowledgeable about critical issues of drugs and the street scene, were more willing to bring personal problems to their counselors, and expected and desired more participation from their counselors in both counseling-related and personal problems.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Counselor and client personality as determinants of counselor expectancy effects.

Seventy-eight students enrolled in summer-session college courses were randomly assigned to serve either as counselors or as clients for a 20-min, role-played peer counseling session. All of the subjects completed a battery of standardized personality measures. Each counselor interacted with two clients. Prior to the sessions, the counselor was led to believe that one of the clients was especially introverted and that the other client was especially extraverted. Dependent measures were based on clients' change scores on a mood adjective rating scale administered before and after the peer counseling sessions. Analyses showed that counselors who were more successful at biasing their clients in the direction of their expectancies (a) scored higher on measures of Dogmatism, Nurturance, and Social Recognition, (b) scored lower on Impulsivity, and (c) were more likely to be women. Clients who were more susceptible to counselor bias scored higher on the Self-Monitoring Scale, the Self-Monitoring Other-Directedness subscale, and Social Recognition. These results are discussed in light of previous research and their implications for research on interpersonal expectancy effects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The pastoral counselor as mental health professional: a comparison of the training of AAPC Fellow Pastoral Counselors and Licensed Clinical Social Workers.

Compares the academic and clinical training requirements for Fellow level members of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC) with those of Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs). Concludes from the empirical findings that AAPC Fellows receive more education, clinical training, and continued supervision than do Licensed Clinical Social Workers. Notes a need for additional and similar types research comparing education and clinical requirements of pastoral counselors with those of other mental health professionals.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2005

Comparison of mothers' and counselors' perceptions of predelivery counseling for extremely premature infants.

OBJECTIVE: To understand mothers' and counselors' perceptions of their roles in decision-making about resuscitation of extremely premature infants at delivery and to assess mothers' and counselors' satisfaction with the counseling and decision-making process. METHODS: Mothers who delivered an infant between 22 and 27 completed weeks of gestation and their self-identified counselor were interviewed using a structured interview format. Mothers' and counselors' perceptions of the content, tone, and directiveness of predelivery counseling and their satisfaction with the decision-making process were compared. Demographic data were collected for the mothers, infants, and counselors. Simple descriptive statistics described demographic characteristics of mothers, counselors, and infants. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine agreement within individual mother-counselor pairs about the content and directiveness of counseling. RESULTS: Thirty-three counselors and 15 mother-counselor pairs were interviewed. The majority (66.7%) of mothers stated that the counselor had made a treatment recommendation, and 60% stated that they had no choice in how their infant would be treated. Only 27.3% of counselors stated that they had made a recommendation, saying instead that they had described the treatment plan or offered options. Counselors believed that mothers were given a treatment choice in 57.6% of encounters. Specific mother-counselor pairs showed little correlation in their perceptions of whether a treatment recommendation had been made (R = 0.0) or a choice had been given about resuscitation (R = 0.07). Despite a lack of perceived choice, mothers generally believed that they were included in treatment decisions (66.7%) and were satisfied with the amount of influence that they had in the decision-making process (73.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The decision-making process in this study conforms most closely to a model of informed assent. Mothers may have been satisfied with this type of counseling because they felt informed and included in the decision-making process. Physicians and nurses need to elicit mothers' preferences to incorporate them into the treatment plan, as counseling about the resuscitation of extremely premature infants at delivery is considered directive by mothers even when it is not intended to be directive.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

The interactive effects of counselor gender, physical attractiveness and status on client self-disclosure.

Investigated client self-disclosure and client perception of counselors (as expressed in counselor evaluations) as a function of the sex, attractiveness and status of the counselor, and the sex of the client. Counselor gender and attractiveness were established by means of stimulus photographs; counselor status was defined in terms of education and experience. Ss (160 college students) first rated their counselors on intelligence and empathy; they then completed Jourard's Self-Disclosure Questionnaire while role-playing clients in therapy. A four-factor between-Ss analysis of disclosure scores revealed that clients disclosed more of themselves to male than to female counselors when the counselors were high in either status or attractiveness. Results supported the hypothesis that the effect of counselor gender on client disclosure depends on an interaction of counselor gender with other counselor variables.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Effect of peer counselors on breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and duration among low-income urban women.

This study examined the effect of support from trained peer counselors on breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity among low-income urban women. Training of counselors, under the supervision of a registered nurse certified in lactation, adapted education techniques from Paulo Freire to provide information about lactation management and other health care issues. The study compared infant feeding practices of women who planned to breastfeed and received support from counselors (counselor group, N = 59) to women who requested counselors but, owing to inadequate numbers of trained counselors, did not have a counselor (No-counselor group, N = 43). Women in the counselor group had significantly greater (p < .05) breastfeeding initiation (93 percent vs. 70 percent), exclusivity (77 percent vs. 40 percent), and duration (mean of 15 weeks vs. mean of 8 weeks) than women in the no-counselor group. The findings suggest that peer counselors, well-trained, and with on-going supervision, can have a positive effect on breastfeeding practices among low-income urban women who intend to breastfeed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Manifest needs of prospective counselors: a comparative study.

Mean performances of 81 prospective counselors on each of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS; Edwards, 1959) needs were analyzed and statistically compared with performances of elementary school counselors, other school counselors, urban college students, professional women, Roman Catholic sisters, and the 1959 EPPS norm samples. Performances of the men and women in the prospective counselor group were similar. Men had a significantly higher need for achievement and dominance, but the significance did not reach .01. Two EPPS needs, intraception and nurturance, consistently differentiated the prospective counselor group. Comparisons across samples indicated that prospective counselors were most similar to the two counseling samples and, for the female subgroup of prospective counselors, to the sample of professional women. Largest across-sample differences were found between the female prospective counselors and the Roman Catholic sisters, between the female prospective counselors and norm samples of female college students and female adults, and between the male prospective counselors and the male adult norm sample.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Genetic counselor attitudes towards fetal sex identification and selective abortion.

Thirty-four prenatal genetic counselors (all but one non-M.D.s) in seven American cities were interviewed on attitudes which might plausibly affect counselor-client interchanges. They overwhelmingly endorse both non-directive counseling and the pro-choice ethos which supports a woman's absolute right to abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. However, they also overwhelmingly condemn using prenatal diagnosis for sex selection purposes. Therefore, counselors experience continual stress from clients who evoke the conflict inherent between these two stances. Counselors use a variety of coping mechanisms to minimize this cognitive dissonance. Avoidance through out-referral or invoking institutional policies forbidding prenatal diagnosis for sex selection purposes is a diminishing option and not possible with clients who have or offer a medical indication. More common is the use of psychological coping mechanisms. By elevating the ideals of non-directiveness and female autonomy counselors better tolerate client values in conflict with their own. Some redefine the category of 'unwanted pregnancy' to include fetuses of the 'wrong sex'; others redefine the problem as their own ethnocentricism. Empowering counselors to set the protocols they use to screen applicants for prenatal diagnosis would not remove these conflicts. Many counselors believe a ban on releasing fetal sex information while abortion is still a legal option would be organizationally or legally unacceptable, or a violation of patient automony. A complicating factor is that 60% of the counselors interviewed would prefer to know fetal sex in their own pregnancies. Counselors reflect the ambivalence of American society in balancing conflicting social goals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Abortion, Legal↗