Process models of counselor judgment.

Abstract

In this study several competing process models of the counselor's clinical judgment were evaluated for their capacity to account for variance in prognostic judgments and further tested for parsimony. Subjects were presented with hypothetical client observations that were varied along three dimensions: personality, academic achievement, and disability. On the basis of this information, counselors were asked to make an inference about the client's level of current functioning, to make causal attributions, and finally to make a clinical prediction about the client's likelihood of progress in counseling. Results of sequential, path-analytic tests of competing models for completeness and parsimony suggest two conclusions: (a) models of the clinical judgments of counselors must attend to the role of certain inferences that mediate between client observations and prognostic judgment; and (b) causal attributions may not play as significant a role in making prognostic judgments as was originally anticipated. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Modeling Rehabilitation Counselor Clinical Judgment

“…Although these decisions are critically important, they are frequently made under a condition of uncertainty-that is, with limited or incomplete information (e.g., Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). In such situations, rehabilitation counselors must use knowledge based on experience with previous clients, as well as from relevant research and theory, to supplement existing client data (e.g., Strohmer, Haase, Biggs, & Keller, 1982). This type of decision making is commonly called clinical judgment and has been extensively studied (Faust, 1986;Lopez, 1989).…”

Making Sense of Client Data: Clinical Experience and Confirmationism Revisited

“…These early impressions tend to serve as anchors for subsequent inferences and judgments (Bishop, Scharf, & Adkins, 1975;Garb, 1998;Nisbett & Ross, 1980;Stromer, Boas, & Abadie, 1996), or become indicators of the most appropriate strategy to use with the client (Garb, 1998;Strohmer, Haase, Biggs, & Keller, 1982). This is not inconsistent with the premises of the thesis proposed by Asch (1946).…”

Honesty: Expanding Skills Beyond Professional Roles

“…In the use of interpretation, the alternative frame of reference typically comes from the counselor's personal and theoretical constructs of client behavior. As in the use of confrontation or honest feedback, the counselor must possess a theoretical and personal schema sufficient to provide clients with alternative conceptualizations and hypotheses (Holloway & Wolleat, 1980;Pepinsky & Pepinsky, 1954;Strohmer, Biggs, Haase, & Keller, 1982, 1983.…”