Reports on the importance of cross-cultural contact in the development of multicultural counseling competencies (MCCs). Results reveal that the greater the prior cross-cultural life experience, the higher were students' MCCs measured at the beginning of a multicultural counseling course. MCCs measured at the end of the course were significantly…

Examined self-disclosure as a conscious intentional technique in which clinicians share information about their lives. Experienced clinicians (N=120) responded to four scenarios. Studied client and counselor variables, demographics, and reasons for and against disclosure. Discusses self-disclosure criteria. Discusses implications for practice and…

Summarizes gaps between assumptions appearing in literature, research, and accepted standards for marital and family therapy (MFT) supervision, and the common practice of supervisors. Issues stemming from gaps are highlighted and recommendations made for closing them. In an effort to refine standard practice for MFT supervision, best practice…

Explored development of seasoned marriage and family therapists (MFTs) in order to identify important events and themes in their personal and professional lives. The main developmental theme that emerged was the integration of personal and professional lives. Results might partially provide a map of possible transitions facing MFTs along their…

Explores the current impact of interpersonal violence on college counseling centers and their clients. Results reveal that client sex, intake counselor sex, intake counselor experience, and client counseling history significantly predicted disclosure of violence experiences. Counselor sex, counselor experience, and client's experience with…

Describes development of a questionnaire for evaluating nature and extent of practitioners' fears in working with high-risk youths. Three scales were proposed. A stepwise approach to test construction and validation was used. Predicted relationships between subscales were confirmed, supporting validity of the questionnaire. Internal consistency…

Viktor Frankl stated, "One of the main features of human existence is the capacity to rise above such conditions, to grow beyond them. Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible and of changing himself for the better if necessary." Effective counselors do this daily, rising above conditions, seizing opportunities to change the…

This review examines literature on counseling techniques for use with gifted underachievers (GUA). The review begins with a discussion of definitions of underachievement and the various types of underachievement. The paper then evaluates types of counseling, counselor variables, length of counseling intervention, and grade level of counseling.…

A study in the fall of 1988 investigated counselors' attitudes toward home economics. The sample consisted of 80 counselors, a 48 percent return from all counselors in Delaware's secondary schools with home economics programs. A mailed questionnaire included demographic items and twenty-three 4-point Likert-type attitude items. Data analyses…

Research has shown that a counselor's level of expertise, attractiveness, and facilitativeness may be communicated to the client largely through nonverbal behaviors. A review of the research on counselor nonverbal communication reveals that: (1) counselor nonverbal behavior has been shown to be the basis of determining the presence of facilitative…

Interpersonal behaviors and factors may facilitate or hinder the ability of one person to exert influence over another. To investigate the impact of counselor smoking behavior and status on potential clients' perceptions of counselor attributes, credibility, and expected helpfulness, 134 female college students viewed one of three vignettes…

Mental health practitioners across the nation are faced with many stressors resulting from daily personal and professional challenges, including the emotional pain experienced by clients. While the literature has examined facets of client distress, little has been written concerning practitioners' experiences of distress. This study had two…

This digest discusses several major issues in the area of assessment of counselor performance, looking at the need for counselor assessment, areas of assessment in counselor performance, evaluation methods, evaluators, and the time of assessment. Several recommendations are made for more effective assessment of counselor performance. (NB)

The Community Counseling Appraisal Survey was completed by 743 members of the American Association for Counseling and Development who identified their primary professional activity as counselor and who indicated their employment setting to be other than school or higher education. The purpose of the study was to: (1) provide a description of…

Psychotherapy with older dying patients can lead to problems of countertransference for the clinician. Working with dying patients requires flexibility to adapt basic therapeutics to the institutional setting. Goals of psychotherapy must be reconceptualized for dying clients. The problems of countertransference arise because clinicians themselves…