Counseling process and outcome variables of Indonesian paraprofessional and professional counselors in the initial interview

• Main Author: Nadjamuddin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1984
• Subjects: Counselors > Indonesia; Counselor Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/608
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study compares Indonesian paraprofessional and professional counselors on the basis of counseling process: counseling climate, counselor comfort, verbal response, personality characteristics and counseling outcome or client satisfaction, as observed in the initial interview. The subjects of the study were 10 counselors and 100 clients. The study used the Counseling Evaluation Inventory (CEI) and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16-PF) to measure client experiences and counselor personality characteristics, respectively. Each counselor met 5 male and 5 female clients individually in a 20-30 minute initial interview. All sessions were audiotaped. To compare paraprofessional and professional counselors in the counseling process, the arithmetic mean and standard deviations of individual counseling scores were computed. Multiple regression was done to test for significant difference between the 2 groups at .05 level. Significant difference was established by determining the contribution of the grouping factor over and beyond the individual counselor aspects. The two groups were also compared by computing the arithmetic mean of the frequencies of each response type per counselor. Again multiple regression was done to test for significant differences between the 2 groups. The relationships between client satisfaction and counselor personality characteristics were computed for each group and each of 16 personality factors by using the Pearson r. The difference between the r's for the 2 groups were compared using the z-test. Among the 3 components of client experiences, it was only in counselor comfort where a significant difference was found between paraprofessional and professional counselors. Clients of professional counselors rated their counselors significantly higher than did those counseled by paraprofessionals. In the counselor personality-client satisfaction correlation coefficients obtained for both groups, significant difference was found in only 4 factors. The largest difference in r's between the 2 groups was on Factor Forthright vs. Astute, followed by Humble vs. Assertive, then by Trusting vs. Suspicious, and Conservative vs. Experimenting. These difference indicated that client satisfaction tends to vary directly with forthrightness and docility for paraprofessional counselors while it tends to vary directly with shrewdness, assertiveness, obstinacy, and willingness to experiment for professional counselors. Conclusions made, were : 1) Effectiveness of counseling as measured by client satisfaction, is independent of the counselor level of training. 2) The primary job of counselor and his habitual approach to others may influence responses of the individual in his counseling role. 3) Dual roles of the counselor may create a conflict of philosophies which can lead to inconsistency in relating to clients. 4) Some personality traits are more closely associated to effective counseling than others.