PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE REHABILITATION COUNSELORS IN A COUNSELOR TRAINING PROGRAM AND IN A STATE REHABILITATION AGENCY

Along with the increasing demand for counselors to meet the needs of the population have come concerns about the effectiveness of counselors. Research into the variables related to counselor effective­ ness has resulted in dissatisfaction with the use of cognitive factors, such as test scores and academic grades, for predicting effectiveness. Investigations exploring the relationship between noncognitive factors and counselor effectiveness have produced promising results. Specifically, various personality characteristics have been demonstrated to have significant relationships with effectiveness in counseling. Previous studies in the area of counselor effectiveness have, for the most part, limited their investigations to students enrolled in a general guidance and counseling program. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between personality characteristics and counseling effectiveness utilizing student rehabilitation counselor trainees and employed counselors in the field of rehabilitation. The following hypotheses were advanced: 1. Personality characteristics can differentiate between ef­ fective and noneffective graduate students in a rehabilitation counselor training program. 2. Personality characteristics can differentiate between ef­ fective and noneffective counselors employed by a state division of vocational rehabilitation. vi vi 3. Personality characteristics that can differentiate between effective and noneffective student counselors are not significantly different from those that can differentiate between effective and non­ effective state division of vocational rehabilitation counselors. The subjects used for this study were twenty-two students enrolled in a graduate rehabilitation counselor training program and twenty-two counselors employed by a state division of vocational reha­ bilitation. All subjects were individually administered the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and were rated for counseling effectiveness by their supervisors using the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale (CERS). Effective student counselors were compared to noneffective stu­ dent counselors, effective state counselors were compared to noneffective state counselors, and effective counselors from both groups were compared to noneffective counselors from both groups. Each comparison involved obtaining correlations between the personality factors and counselor ef­ fectiveness by means of multiple regression analysis. Next a specifi­ cation equation was developed for each comparison and applied to those counselors rated effective and noneffective in each group. The dif­ ferences between effective and noneffective counselors in each group were analyzed by means of the Mann-Whitney U Test. In addition, dif­ ferences between the correlations obtained by the students and state counselors were analyzed with F-tests. The results of the investigation supported the acceptance of all three of the hypotheses. Results were significant beyond the vm p. 05 level in all three comparisons. None of the £-tests were sig­ nificant beyond the p. 05 level. The results of this study indicate that consideration should be given to including personality characteristics as part of the criteria used fn selecting applicants for both a graduate rehabilitation counselor training program and a state division of vocational rehabilitation. Further research into the relationship between counselor ef­ fectiveness and personality factors using the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale is strongly encouraged. Future investigations should employ a larger N to allow greater flexibility for statistical analysis.