Date of Award
Spring 5-1-1985
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Educational and School Psychology
First Advisor
J. Laurence Passmore
Second Advisor
John C. Jessell
Third Advisor
Patrick W. Utz
Abstract
The effect of a counselor-introduced professional disclosure statement on aspects of the initial counseling process was investigated through a professional disclosure procedure which was comoared with a no treatment control condition. The four dependent variables studied included: clients' attitude toward counseling; clients' perceptions of the client-counselor relationship; clients' perceptions of counselor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness; and clients' knowledge about counseling. The professional disclosure procedure consisted of a verbal and written presentation of the counselor's unique professional disclosure statement during the last 10 minutes of the initial counseling interview. The professional disclosure statement provided the following information: brief biographical data and discussion of purposes, methods, techniques, and responsibilities involved in the counseling process. Forty-eight subjects, who were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control condition following the initial interview, completed the Attitude Toward Counseling Scale (ATC), the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI), the Counselor Rating Form - Short (CRF), and the Information About Counseling Inventory (IAC). In both a liberal and conservative analysis of the data, multivariate analysis of variance was utilized to test the overall null hypothesis, and a series of iv individual t tests for independent groups were utilized to test the four null sub-hypotheses. The statistical analyses did not reveal any significant differences between groups. In addition, no descriptive trends were observed in an examination of the summary data for the two groups across the four dependent variables. Results revealed that the counselor-introduced professional disclosure procedure had no overall effect on the initial counseling process. The professional disclosure procedure had no effect on clients' attitude toward counseling; clientsr perceptions of the clientcounselor relationship; clients' perceptions of counselor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness; and clients' knowledge about counseling. Inplications for practice and further research are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Christiansen, Martha Dennis, "The Effects of a Professional Disclosure Statement on Aspects of the Counseling Process" (1985). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3286.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/3286