Comparative Effects of Teaching Basic Counseling Competencies Through Brief Microskills Practice Versus Mental Practice

Abstract

Students enrolled in an introductory counselor education course who lacked training and experience as interviewers were randomly assigned to one of two short-term attending and responding skills training groups or a wait-control (WC) group. Brief microskills practice (MS) and mental practice (MP) training methods were used in the two treatment groups. All students conducted posttraining simulated counseling interviews, and their videotapes provided data for analysis of the quality of their interview competence and their proficiency with attending and responding skills. MANOVA and follow-up analyses of data from independent ratings of the videotapes indicated that MS was superior to MP and WC on attending skills, MP led to superior performance on responding skills, and neither MP nor MS led to significant differences in perceived competence on qualitative dimensions.Potential human service workers have many training needs, and the ability to communicate effectively with others is one of them. Among communication needs, basic attending and responding skills are a foundation for competence as a human service worker (Egan, 1982;Ivey & Authier, 1978). Given these assumptions, designers of communication skills training programs must decide how much time to devote to training and the relative cost-effectiveness of rival methods. Stanley B . Baker is an associate professor of Education, Michael E .

Microskills practice versus mental practice training for competence in decision-making counseling.

“…When the GIGS was used as a qualitative measure of trainee competence following brief training in lower-order counseling skills (Baker et al, 1983), no differences were discovered between either MS or MP and WC group members, even though the level of interrater agreement was similar to that reported here. In this study, differences on the GIGS were found between both treatments and the control group.…”

“…In the Jenkins et al study (1982), the CICS was shown to have both high reliability (Hoyt coefficient = .96) and discriminant validity in that 73% of the variance in observed ratings was attributable to differences in counselor interview competence. In the Baker et al (1983) study, the Hoyt coefficient was .896, and the interrater agreement was .860. Also, the intercorrelations among dimensions were only moderate (.538-.746), suggesting that they represented different, although related, constructs.…”

“…Kasdorf & Gustafson, 1978). In addition, Baker, Scofield, Munson, and Clayton (1983) found mental practice equal to microskills practice on a qualitative counseling measure and superior in teaching basic responding skills after a brief (150 min) training program.…”

Effects of separate and combined overt and covert practice modes on counseling trainee competence and motivation.

“…Responding proficiency index. Baker et al (1983) Counseling Interview Competency Scale. The Counseling Interview Competency Scale (CICS) assesses counseling performance on the qualitative dimensions of empathy (EM), interpretation (IN), trustworthiness (TR), attractiveness (AT), and expertness (EX).…”

“…It utilizes a behavioral anchoring (BARS) procedure in which independent raters assign scores ranging from 1 to 7 on each of the five dimensions. Details about the design of the CICS and its reliability and validity are reported in Baker et al (1983Baker et al ( , 1984Baker et al ( , 1985 and Jenkins (1982).…”