This article explores the effects of race, racial self-designation, sex, and previous counseling experience on the preferences of disadvantaged students for a helper of the same race, same sex, same age, and same social class background. One hundred ninety-four disadvantaged students completed an 8-item general information questionnaire and a 4-item preference scale derived from work done by Jackson and Kirschner. The results indicate that while there is a slight preference in all disadvantaged groups for a helper of the same sex, same age, and same race, there is a definite preference for a helper of the same social class background.
The study tests the hypothesis that greater counselor-subjects compatibility in race, sex, and language results in greater client satisfaction and depth of exploration. The subjects were 37 black students in a special program for the disadvantaged at a leading eastern state university and their counselors. The data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of covariance with counselor sex and race the independent variables and client depth of self-exploration and satisfaction the dependent variables. Covariates were counselor's level of facilitative conditions and comprehension of nonstandard English. Level of significance was p < .05. Results indicated that subjects preferred black counselors to a significantly greater degree than white counselors and that they explored themselves in greater depth with female counselors. Language was not a significant variable in any of the analyses.
This is report of an evaluation of citizen board functioning in an eight‐county region. Included in the study were seven county mental health boards, four state hospital boards, one community mental health center and four metropolitan catchment area boards. Board effectiveness criteria (knowledge of mental health legislation, policy‐making effectiveness, knowledge of the community and agency procedures, organizational effectiveness) are related to demographic and ideological profiles for each board. Board effectiveness was measured by the Self‐Diagnosis Guidelines (Institute for Voluntary Organizations, 1977). Board ideology was assessed with the Community Mental Health Ideology Scale (Baker & Schulberg, 1969). Results indicated that: (1) boards were generally not representative of their communities; (2) most boards saw themselves as only marginally effective; (3) the low self‐ratings of boards were due to deficiencies in crucial areas of board responsibility; (4) there were significant differences in effectiveness among boards; and (5) board members reported less support for community mental health philosphy than some professional groups. Implications of the findigs for mental health policy and legislation were drawn.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.