The Human Factor: Student Reactions to the Integration of Personal Dispositions into a Counseling Program.

The authors explored student reactions to the integration of personal dispositions, or characteristic attitudes, into a counseling program. Results suggested participants Iiked focusing on personal dispositions and were able to identify areas of personal growth related to these characteristics. Integrating humanistic principles by using dispositions is recommended when training future counselors. ********** Rogers (1957, 1980) introduced the concept of essential therapist or counselor conditions for therapeutic personality change, focusing on congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy as core conditions for successful counseling. Many researchers have followed Rogers's lead and examined the personal qualities needed to be an effective counselor. Young (2001) analyzed the writings of various authors and identified five core characteristics of good helpers, including having a positive view of others, possessing a solid self-concept, demonstrating good self-care, being proficient both creatively and intellectually, and possessing courage. In addition, Egan (2007) noted that those in the helping professions need to be wise and possess common sense, and Norcross (2002) provided an extensive review of effective characteristics of clinicians as persons in relationships with clients. In all cases, these authors referred to personal dispositions, or characteristic attitudes, of effective counselors. Norcross's (2002) conclusions point to common factors of effective counselors, including qualities of the therapeutic alliance related to the clinician's empathy, positive regard, congruence, openness to processing client reactions, and effectiveness in giving feedback--all of which are closely linked to the person of the clinician. Furthermore, Norcross concluded from a review of decades of research that these personal attributes account for twice as much positive outcome as techniques. These bodies of literature highlight the need for counselor educators to focus on the personal development-or dispositions--of developing counselors. Dispositions tend to be subjective in nature and not easily measurable. No formal consensus exists about the exact types of personal dispositions needed to be an effective counselor. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP; 2009) provided the counseling profession with a standard set of skills and competencies that all counselors should possess, but dispositions are not explicitly mentioned in these standards. Skills sets do not necessarily address the relevance of personal qualities or personal development, especially in attempts to engage in effective therapeutic relationships with persons in need. The CACREP 2009 Standards seem limited in addressing the development of the persons of counseling students. The School Counseling section of the 2009 Standards refers to the importance of self-awareness and sensitivity relating to multicultural groups, and the Clinical Counseling Mental Health section includes the value of focusing on wellness and human development. Both sections also include developing an understanding of one's limitations as a necessary component of training. Beyond these factors, personal-professional dispositions are not included in counselor training guidelines. In our view, the work of counselor educators should contain a humanistic focus, attending to the development of counseling students as persons developing themselves. These students represent the counseling profession and train to establish therapeutic relationships with people in need. To that end, our faculty engaged in a process to discern what we value most in our students as persons. Our process in developing a set of dispositions to guide our students, program, curriculum, and evaluation of students is described by Spurgeon, Gibbons, and Cochran (2012). The present study examined students' views of the dispositions developed by our faculty. …