A Prepracticum Laboratory Training Experience

Abstract

This article reviews the literature pertinent to prepracticum laboratory experiences in counselor education and describes the elements and the evaluation of one such program.

Research on Training Counselors and Clinicians

“…Even more importantly, the many statistically significant results in IDET studies may obscure the fact that even after the most lengthy and successful IDET program with graduate counselor trainees (e.g., Carkhuff et al, 1968;Carkhuff & Truax, 1965;Emener, 1973), the average facilitativeness level communicated by trainees was less than (or just barely equal to) the level that has been empirically established as the minimum necessary to create a truly therapeutic milieu (i.e., 5 on a 9-point scale, 3 on a 5-point scale; Mitchell, Bozarth, & Krauft, 1978). With shorter IDET programs and paraprofessional trainees (e.g., Brockhaus et al, 1973;Dooley, 1975;VanderKolk, 1973), even the most successful trainees almost never even approached the minimal facilitativeness level!…”

“…Blocksma and Porter (1947), Carkhuff and Truax (1965), and later Burck, Jacobs, Sauber, Stone, and Thomson (1973), Delaney, Long, Masucci, and Moses (1969), Emener (1973), and Redfering (1973) have demonstrated that IDET generates significant increases in trainees' abilities to communicate FC to clients. Several investigations have shown that between 1 and 100 hours of IDET is significantly more effective than no training (Ashworth, 1971;Berenson et al, 1966;Brockhaus, Marshall, & Dustin, 1973;Butler & Hansen, 1973;Dooley, 1975;Pacoe, Naar, Guyett, & Wells, 1976;Selfridge et al, 1975;Shapiro & Gust, 1974), placebo-control didactic lectures (Gormally et al, 1975;Martin & Carkhuff, 1968), an equivalent amount of "traditional" clinical or counseling training (Carkhuff, Kratchovil, & Friel, 1968;Leitner, 1973;Rye, 1970;VanderKolk, 1973), or an equivalent amount of "experiential" training (Berenson et al, 1966;Rye, 1970).…”

“…Carkhuff s discrimination and communication indexes, for example, only rarely correlate significantly with observer-rated empathy, warmth, or genuineness (Butler & Hansen, 1973;Carkhuff, Kratchovil, & Fried, 1968;Emener, 1973;. Other tests yield similar results (Ashworth, 1971;Dalton, Sunblad, & Hylbert, 1973;Eskedal, 1975;Perry, 1975), even frequently used ones such as the Michigan State Affective Sensitivity Scale (Green, 1973;Rye, 1970;Saltmarsh, 1973)-which has received only tentative validation (Campbell, Kagan, & Krathwohl, 1971)-and Porter's Counselor Skills Test (Blocksma & Porter, 1947;Demos & Zuwayliff, 1962, 1963)-which has not been empirically validated.…”

Unique Ethical Dilemmas in Counselor Training

“…Various approaches can be used in training laboratories, but most of the experiential exercises involve simulations of counseling settings. In a model proposed by Emener (1973), later stages of the prepracticum experience include extended interactions with persons from outside the class. Therefore, real clients may be solicited for this training experience.…”

Counselor Education Applied to Industry

“…A variety of appropriate techniques (at the discretion of the trainers) were used during all three stages of training, including role playing and audio and video playback and interviewing to facilitate learning within the training process (consult Carkhuff 1969;Emener 1973). The trainers were 30 and 32 years old, held doc-toral degrees in counseling, and had individually conducted over 1,000 hours of communications and human relations training in a variety of educational, institutional, and industrial settings.…”