NCJ Number
66889
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (MARCH 1980) Pages: 61-69
Date Published
1980
Length
9 pages
Annotation
THREE COUNSELING TECHNIQUES WERE RATED BY A SAMPLE OF 94 MALE INMATES AS TO HELPFULNESS IN A QUASI-COUNSELING SITUATION.
Abstract
TWO TYPES OF COUNSELOR RESPONSES TO EACH OF THE EIGHT INMATE PROBLEM STATEMENTS USED IN THE STUDY WERE TAKEN VERBATIM FROM THE CARKHUFF (1976) AUDIOTAPE PACKAGE. FOR THIS STUDY, A LEVEL 3 RESPONSE REFERS TO THE COUNSELOR'S COMMUNICATION OF HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE CLIENT'S MEANING AND FEELING. A LEVEL 5 RESPONSE CONVEYS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CLIENT'S FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS AND THEN ADDS SOME SPECIFIC DIRECTION FOR CLIENT ACTION. THE THIRD RESPONSE TESTED IS CALLING 'PROBING' AND INVOLVES THE COUNSELOR'S ELICTING MORE INFORMATION, DISCUSSING A POINT FURTHER, OR QUERYING THE CLIENT. SUBJECTS VIEWED A VIDEOTAPE OF EIGHT DRAMATIZED COUNSELOR-INMATE INTERACTIONS. EACH INTERACTION CONSISTED OF THE STATEMENT OF A PROBLEM BY A ROLE-PLAYING INMATE FOLLOWED BY THREE SEPARATE RESPONSES TO THE STATEMENT BY A ROLE-PLAYING COUNSELOR. SUBJECTS RANKED THE COUNSELOR RESPONSES OF EACH INTERACTION FROM 'MOST HELPFUL' TO 'LEAST HELPFUL.' ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE COMPARED THE RANKED DATA BETWEEN SUBJECTS, AND IF STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE WAS FOUND, MANN-WHITNEY U TESTS WERE PERFORMED FOR EACH PAIR OF COUNSELOR RESPONSES TO DETERMINE IF THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE WAY THE SUBJECTS RANKED HELPFULNESS FOR EACH TECHNIQUE. THE LEVEL 5 RESPONSE WAS PERCEIVED AS THE MOST HELPFUL RESPONSE, FOLLOWED BY PROBING AND THEN THE LEVEL 3 RESPONSE. RESULTS SUGGEST THAT INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS PERCEIVE DIRECTIVE RESPONSES AS MORE HELPFUL THAN NONDIRECTIVE ONES AT THE OUTSET OF COUNSELING. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ARE OFFERED. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)