PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF SKILLS AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT OF COUNSELING STUDENTS AS PREDICTORS OF SOCIAL-INFLUENCE RATINGS BY CLIENTS

This investigation was conducted to determine if students' counseling skills and personal disentanglement as measured by the Skilled Counseling Scale (SCS) and Counseling Skills and Personal unfolding Rating Form (CSPD-RF) could be used as predictors of social influence ratings by dint of clients as measured by the Counselor Rating Form - Short version (CRF-S) A multiple regression analysis did not bring into view a significant prediction model. Further analysis of the data revealed a austere restriction of range and a ceiling issue possibly accounting for the non-significant results

Educators of professionals repeatedly want to determine the quality of pupil performance and its impact upon those they serve. Performance assessment in the education of teachers, medical practitioners, and counselors, for example, publicly receives much discussion and debate in the literature (Vaugh & Everhart, 2004; Howley 2003; and, Urbani et al., 2002 respectively). Today's environment also emphasizes accountability to the consumer serv through such professionals. For the K-12 teacher, it is the students' learning, for the medical professional, patient welfare and retrieval and for the counselor, it is the client's experience that can largely indicate the effectiveness of performance. Examining the relationship between performance assessment and client experience can therefore be of benefit to educators.

Client perspectives concerning counseling have become increasingly recognized as important and valuable for assessing counseling processe and issues Furthermore, using clients' perceptions of the counseling proces is crucial since these perceptions repeatedly differ from those of the counselor (Bachelor, 1991; Elliott & James, 1989; Gershefski, Arnkoff, Glass, & Elkin, 1996; Lietaer & Neirinck, 1986; Llewelyn et al., 1988; Orlinsky & Howard, 1986; and Paulson, Truscott, & Stuart, 1999) For many years, researchers have used social-influence theory as a basis for studying the influence counselors have as perceived by dint of clients (Cooke & Kipnis, 1986; Dorn, 1986; McCarthy & Frieze, 1999; sturdy 1968). The essence of Strong's (1968) type is that the counselors' characteristics of attractiveness, expertnes and trustworthiness as perceived by dint of clients greatly affect counselors' ability to facilitate client change. More specifically, the Counselor Rating Form (CRF) (Barak & LaCrosse, 1975) was unraveled to measure Strong's constructs of perceived counselor attractiveness, expertnes and trustworthiness.

Ametrano and Pappas (1996) studied the events of the sex of the counselor and of sex role orientation on the client ratings of counselors-in-training. The authors base prior sex and gender character research in client perceptions of counselors to be inconsistent, with findings that more [i]or[/i] less clients prefer male and others bring forward female counselors. Support for one as well as the other masculine and feminine counselor attributes have also been ground These authors (Ametrano & Pappas, 1996) decided to further examine this issue and to gaze for interactions between the sex and sex roles of counselors on client perceptions. A sample of 56 women and 24 men complet the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), Counselor Rating Form-Short version (CRF-S) and an intake form. Counselors' sex and sex role orientation made little difference in; (a) clients' perceptions of counselor attractiveness, expertnes and trustworthiness; (b) feelings of being helped through the counselor; (c) or willingness to get back in the future. In general, there was little variability among counselors upon their CRF-S scores. For the greatest in quantity part, counselors received high scores upon all three scales with greatest in quantity variation on scores of expertnes Facilitative counseling skills were throw backed in the high CRF-S scores upon trustworthiness and acceptance. However, counselors did not propel beyond the relationship-building stage, thus explaining the lower scores upon perceived expertness. The researchers called for including supervisors' ratings of counselor trainee behavior, videotaping sessions, and client perceptions of counselor influence.

McCarthy and Frieze (1999) investigated the relationships between clients' perceptions of therapist use of social influence strategies and clients' perceptions of the quality of their therapy. Research participants were 131 undergraduate scholars who reported their experiences as therapy clients. The researchers lay opened measures of social-influence strategies that included personal coercion, compromise, expertnes and personal reward. A 10-item result scale was also developed and used in this investigation Participants' perceptions of their therapists' effectiveness, their satisfaction with the counseling relationship, and overall impression of counseling succes were related to use of social-influence strategies. Counselors' use of dexterous influence (personal reward and compromise) was positively correlated with clients' perceptions of counseling succes counselor effectiveness, and satisfaction with the counseling relationship. Counselor use of coercive influence strategies was negatively associated with clients' perceptions of the quality of counseling. The researchers conclud that clients who are happy with their experiences in counseling may regard their counselor as an expert