Client Perceptions of Counselors‐In‐Training: The Effects of Sex and Gender Role Orientation

Abstract

The effects of the sex of the counselor and of gender role orientation on client ratings of counselors‐in‐training were examined. An interaction between sex and gender role orientation was found for differences in clients' willingness to refer a friend to the counselor. Implications for training and research are discussed.

The evaluation of participants’ perceptions of session impact: do counsellors-in-training, volunteer clients, and extra-credit/class required clients view session impact differently?

“…Similar to previous research (e.g. Ametrano & Pappas, 1996;Gross, 2006;Kivlighan, 1989Kivlighan, , 1990Kivlighan & Shaughnessy, 2000;Stiles et al, 2002;Stiles & Snow, 1984), differences in session rating are expected between counsellors-intraining and their clients adding further clarity to the training issues related to counsellors-in-training.…”

“…Ametrano & Pappas, 1996;Dunn, Borgers, & Thomas, 1988;Gross, 2006;Kivlighan, 1989Kivlighan, , 1990Kivlighan & Shaughnessy, 2000;Lent et al, 2006;Stiles & Snow, 1984;Stiles, Gordon, & Lani, 2002) that have explored counsellors-in-training perceptions, session ratings by clients and novice counsellors, and other factors related to in-session ratings and session outcomes. Ametrano and Pappas (1996), for example, explored the effects of sex and gender role orientation of novice counsellors on session outcomes. It was found that gender role orientation and the sex of the counsellor alone did not affect client perception of session quality, but that both variables together did affect session quality perception.…”

The Measurement of Masculinity and Femininity: Historical Perspective and Implications for Counseling

“…Despite the cautions that Spence and others (e.g., Good, Borst, & Wallace, 1994) have voiced regarding what is being measured by both the PAQ and the BSRI (i.e., instrumentality and expressiveness), it is common for researchers to discuss their use of both instruments as measures of global masculinity and femininity. Furthermore, despite Spence's (1993) attempts to clarify the focus of the PAQ scales by beginning to refer H o f f m a n to the Feminine scale as Expressive (E) and the Masculine scale as Instrumental (I), it is common for scholars to prefer the original scale descriptors (i.e., Masculine and Feminine), even while acknowledging Spence's change in nomenclature, as exemplified by Ametrano and Pappas (1996): "In her recent writings, Spence (1993) referred to the Instrumental (I) and the Expressive (E) scales . .…”

Women and Leadership: A Developmental Paradox?

“…Several studies in the counseling literature have addressed such issues as gender role orientation and its role in the counseling relationship (Ametrano & Pappas, 1996;Seem & Johnson, 1998), gender role perspectives of counselors and clients (Hoffman, 2006a(Hoffman, , 2006bHoffman, Hattie, & Borders, 2005), and sex and gender in counselor supervision (e.g., Seem & Johnson, 1998). Also of note are the career development, experience, and performance of counselor educators with respect to gender.…”