Three counseling treatments were compared in terms of the differential effects as employed in a college counseling center with clientele seeking vocational counseling assistance. The three treatments included two selfadministering counseling modes, Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS), a modification of the SDS entitled Individual Vocational Planning (IVP), and traditional vocational counseling. College student volunteers seeking vocational counseling were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment or control groups. Pretest and posttest scores were obtained on frequency and variety of vocational information seeking, satisfaction with treatment, and other measures. In addition, the differential costs of providing the treatments were examined. Results indicated that all treatments were about equally effective as measured and that college users appeared equally satisfied with them. Cost analysis indicated that the traditional counseling treatment cost 6 times more per subject than the SDS and 4 times more than the IVP. Low delivery cost and comparable effectiveness provide evidence for the self-administrable treatment modes as additional alternatives to traditional vocational counseling methods.
The VPI was developed as a personality inventory 458 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
One hundred and sixty-eight college students ranked 12 help sources in terms of perceived potential for help with two categories of problems, emotional and educational-vocational. Problem type, sex of student, and counseling experience after high school did not significantly discriminate between the rankings given help-givers. However, high school counseling experience of subjects did significantly discriminate between the rankings. For emotional concerns, students ranked student friend first, an older friend second, and parents third. For educational-vocational problems, students ranked faculty advisor first, faculty member second, and student friend third.
Researchers have hypothesized that administrative variables in counseling service delivery may be significant factors in client attrition. The present study was an investigation of the relation between the length of time that clients spent on a waiting list and attrition after intake. Participants were 1,688 clients at a major university's counseling center. Attrition was defined as failure to attend the first interview after intake. Statistical analyses revealed that time spent on the waiting list did not differentiate counseling conlinuers from noncontinuers for either educational/ vocational or emotional/social clients.Research on counseling center attrition rates has revealed that as many as 25% of the university-student help seekers that receive an intake interview fail to return for the first interview (Epperson, 1981). Typically, those studying attrition have concentrated on one of the following three variables: (a) similarities and differences between those students who terminate after intake and those who do not (
Among a number of mentd health needs is that of additional manpower for providing traditional counseling/psychotherapeutic services. An intramural NEMH pilot training program, conducted by Rioch, aimed at this problem through the training of mature, bright, socially sensitive women who had raised families of their own. The women so trained have been employed in various mental health settings over the past three years, The results of this program have been under continuous study during this three-year period. Methods of study have included inventories, tapes, and ratings. Considerable weight was given to evaluations by supervisors and by co-workers in the various agencies. The results indicate these women to be providing quite creditable professional counseling and psychotherapy. The implications for mental health manpower are numerous and are discussed at some length.ARROWLY or broadly defined, problems
357been to the United States or England through some exchange program seemed generally quite sensitive to professional trends current in the United States and in the United Kingdom. While these ideas have not been invariably adopted, quite a few of the exchangees have been active disciples of the approaches they had had o p portunity to observe. Ironically, some exchangees were serving to reintroduce concepts of modern dynamic psychology into a country in which such thinking was effectively eradicated under Hitler.It was especially encouraging to see the concept of the team approach implemented with a reasonable degree of success in at least a few of the child guidance clinics. Not only is the team approach important as a method of operation, but it assumes special importance for Germany as it marks a departure from the more stratified, authoritarian pattern that has been so characteristic of the country as a whole. The pattern of collaborative effort of a group of specialists each contributing in his particular way to the understanding and re-educative work with the individual is one which will probably take considerable time to establish broadly there.It was also heartening to find a sensitivity for a need for soundly standardized tests in Germany. While American tests have been "adapted" for use, there was genuine recognition of the fact that something better than make-shift applications t o the German population are needed. Even more significant than this attitude toward the techniques, was a reawakened interest in the individual coupled with a greater concern for his needs and his problems. This interest is by no means confined to psychologists, but is shared by forward-looking administrators in the welfare, social services, youth activities and correctional fields.One especially rich and enlightening experience stemmed from participating in a training seminar for workers in the child guidance field conducted by a British psychiatrist and psychiatric social worker. The discussion of basic concepts that took place served to underscore the differences that remain in the thinking of trained German professionals and a "pick-up" Anglo-American team of clinicians. However, we felt that we derived interesting insights in the interchange of ideas with our German counterparts. It is to be hoped that further exchange of our colleagues with workers in Germany-to allow for even more intensive collaboration and crossfertilization of ideas-will be possible in the future.
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