Thesis on "Behavior Researching the Other Side: Counselor"

Thesis 4 pages (1140 words) Sources: 1 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Behavior Research

Researching the Other Side: Counselor Behavior Study

The bulk of most behavioral research rests in exploring and measuring the behaviors of the client, or patient, and not that of the therapist involved in the context of therapeutic behavioral counseling itself. Yet, this is the prime focus of a 2000 research study conducted by Sharpley et al., entitled "The Use of Counselor Verbal Response Modes and Client-Perceived Rapport." This study focused its research on examining and assessing the behaviors of therapists mid session in order to help determine which behaviors are most effective for building client rapport.

The article and research method in question focuses on exploring the counselor-client interaction variables, and how successful those variables have proven to be in terms of building a strong client-counselor rapport within the various sessions experienced. The study was commissioned in order to help explore underlying elements of building client-counselor rapport. Understanding such variables can help clarify important steps needed to be taken within the context of client sessions. Such an understanding can then help counselors build a stronger rapport with their clients. A method of determining a time period for such rapport building could then also be constructed and manipulated by the counselor. There has been a great body of research regarding various styles of counseling strategies, but there has been little empirical research conducted on the effectiveness and time sensitivity of these strategies used mid-session in a way to provide comparable analysis for objective determination of success or failures. Within this study, the primary understanding of the client-counselor relationship is presented through the Working Alliance model. This model is broken down into three parts bonds, which refer "to the degree of trust and emotional closeness experienced by the clients and counselors set them as a result of undergoing the counseling process," (3). The bonding process of this interaction is of the greatest importance, for it helps establish the relationship and provide for future interaction. The goals are then the "changes in behavior" initiated by the counselor which aims to help guide the patient through the counseling process. Last, tasks are how counselors achieve their goals.

What was the method used?

The method of this study used a trained specialist to sit in lieu of a real client, who rated the behavior in terms of its ability to build or decrease rapport. The study "developed a methodology for examining behaviors which counselor behaviors are associated with the success as defined by the degree of rapport experienced by the client," (2). It featured fifty-nine counselors in training, all of whom were between the ages of 21 and 60. These counselors were a mix of both genders, both male and female. Thus a wide survey of therapists was examined within their individual sessions. This presented a plethora of different types and styles of therapy. All therapists in training conducted a single interview of fifty minutes each. Now, the therapists were not interviewing real clients, but rather highly trained individuals who then reported with greater accuracy and standardized method of evaluation. This is the Standardized Client Method, which reproduces the realism of a true client session, but also provides greater strength in the reliability of the data collected during the interview process. The methodology of the study broke down behaviors minute by minute in order to produce a standardized client method, or trained research participants who "present the same problem in multiple… READ MORE

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