Empirical investigation of counselor self-talk categories.

Abstract

We identified categories of counselor self-talk and explored for possible dimensions that underlie the categories. The 38 counselors conducted 25-min interviews with a female client and then completed a stimulated-recall, thought-listing exercise. Trained judges categorized the resulting 768 self-talk statements into 14 categories, with approximately 61% of the statements accounted for by the four largest categories (client-focused questions, summarizations, inferences or hypotheses, and self-instructions). A multidimensional scaling analysis identified two underlying dimensions that reflect Attending and Assessing vs. Information Seeking and Integrative Understanding vs. Intervention Planning. The findings are discussed in terms of counselor cognitive processing and are related to previous research on counselor intentions. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Stimulated recall: a report on its use in naturalistic research

“…Indeed, Housner and Griffey (1985) were of the view that 'the study of interactive decision making has been conducted almost exclusively through the use of stimulated recall during videotaped replay ' (1985, p. 45). The method is also prevalent in counselling and psychiatry/medical interview research (Martin et al, 1986;Morran et al, 1989;Dershimer & Conover, 1989;Halford & Sanders, 1990;Sanders & Dadds, 1992;Cegala et al, 1995;Salvatori et al, 2000;Spenser & Parikh, 2000). More recently, there are examples of SR in nursing research (Daly, 2001;Hansebo & Kihlgren, 2001;Liimatainen et al, 2001aLiimatainen et al, , 2001b, and language teaching (Gass & Mackey, 2000;Gass, 2001;Lindgren, 2002).…”

Effective group leadership: Continuing the search for greater clarity and understanding

“…1985;Martin, 1984;Morran, Kurpius & Brack, 1989). They have, however, received little attention within the group work field.…”

Self-Talk of Group Counselors: The Research of Rex Stockton

“…Also, Morran found that therapists who had less task-distractive thoughts were able to form better clinical hypotheses. Morran, Kurpius, and Brack (1989) concluded that counselor cognitions affect the behavior of the counselor and thus the outcome of therapy. Hiebert, Uhlemann, Marshall, and Lee (1998) also found that increased levels of negative therapist selftalk were related to increased anxiety and decreased effectiveness of therapist interventions.…”