The Skilled Counselor Training Model: Skills Acquisition, Self-Assessment, and Cognitive Complexity

Abstract

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of the Skilled Counselor Training Model (SCTM; M. H. Smaby, C. D. Maddux, E. Torres‐Rivera, & R. Zimmick, 1999) in teaching counseling skills and in fostering counselor cognitive complexity. Counselor trainees who completed the SCTM had better counseling skills and higher levels of cognitive complexity than did counselor trainees who did not receive the training. Before training, both experimental and control group participants overestimated their skills performance. The control group persisted in this overestimation after training, whereas students who completed the SCTM had a much more accurate self‐assessment. Results suggest that skills‐based training may improve counseling skills and cognitive complexity in counselor trainees.

The Counselor Cognitions Questionnaire: Development and Validation

“…Previous investigators of counselor cognitive complexity (e.g., Duys & Hedstrom, 2000;Little, Packman, Smaby, & Maddux, 2005) have used the differentiation score from the RCQ as a measure of counselor cognitive complexity. The non-significant Pearson product-moment correlation between differentiation scores on the CCQ (about clients) and differentiation scores on the RCQ (about peers) suggests that the two instruments are measuring different things.…”

A Problem-Based Approach to Skill Acquisition and Cognitive Complexity with Pre-Practicum Supervisees

“…Role-taking and observation activities provide a fertile ground for generative discussions (Hawley, 2006;Little et al, 2005). For example, in one beginning techniques class utilizing the PBL format described here, there was a palpable tension between the student-client and the trainee during one practice counseling session.…”

“…Interestingly, the utilization of counseling skills in role-taking situations (i.e., education formats that allow counseling trainees to practice and observe clinical skills) has been shown to be associated not only with the acquisition of basic skills (Urbani et al, 2002), but also with a marked increase in the cognitive complexity of counseling trainees (Hawley, 2006;Little, Packman, Smaby, & Maddux, 2005).…”

The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision Volume 6 Issue 2 Fall 2014

“…The process of skill competence enhancement inherently involves the improvement of cognitive complexity, a concept frequently found in the literature to be a key element of counselor development (Little, Packman, Smaby, & Maddux, 2005).…”