A brief assessment technique for paraprofesional helpers

Abstract

The need for an economical technique for evaluating training programs in applied settings led to the development of an analogue assessment technique. The Interview Situation Questionnaire (ISQ) required written responses to ten counseling vignettes. The responses were scored for Affective. Understanding, and Exploratory content using an adaptation of Kagan's (1967) Counselor Verbal Response Scale. In a validation study the ISQ significantly differentiated between counselors and natural scientists. In a comparison between didactically trained students and student volunteers in an experiential/didactic training program, the ISQ was sensitive to initial differences between the groups and to changes in both groups over the training period. The experiential/didactic group showed significantly greater improvement on the Affective dimension. These data are consistent with previous findings and, with corrections for possible ceiling effects, support the usefulness of a brief analogue task as a screening and evaluation tool.

Assessing paraprofessional competence with the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory.

“…The past two decades have witnessed a rapid proliferation in the use of volunteers to staff a growing number of suicide and crisis intervention services (Rosenbaum & Calhoun, 1977). Unfortunately, empirical assessments of such paraprofessionals have not kept pace with their growing utilization (Tapp & Spanier, 1973), leading recent investigators to develop'Various questionnaires and rating systems for evaluating their performance (e.g., Knickerbocker & McGee, 1973;Tyler, Kalafat, Boroto, & Hartman, 1978). Typically, such techniques have sought to measure features that are characteristic of helping communications in general (e.g., empathic and exploratory responses) rather than those that might be specific to any particular crisis situation.…”

An Expanded Approach to Educating Statistical Consultants

“…The last segment of the course provides a combined didactic and experiential learning unit (Tyler, Kalafat, Boroto and Hartman 1978) on interpersonal relations in a statistical consultation. The didactic component addresses the necessity of attending to nonstatistical aspects of a statistical consultation.…”

The Use of Simulations to Assess the Impact of an Adolescent Suicide Response Curriculum

“…Written responses to simulations have been used for a number of years in the training and credentialing of medical students ( Hubbard, 1978) and mental health counselors (Smith, 1983), and have demonstrated reliability and discriminant and predictive validity (Berven, 1985). For example, Tyler, Kalafat, Boroto, and Hartman (1978) found written responses to vignettes to discriminate between doctoral-level counselors and natural scientists, and trained and untrained student counselors.…”