The Effects of the CACREP Standards on the Development of Counseling Skills

This study was designed to measure the effectiveness of accreditation standards (specifically, CACREP Standards for counselor education programs) on the development of counseling skills. A measure of counseling skill (The Counselor Rating Form-Short Version) was used to measure the counseling skills of counselor trainees from various masters programs. These students were enrolled in a doctoral program in counselor education and were taking their first semester practicum. A T-Test of Independent Means revealed that the student counselors from CACREP accredited masters programs scored significantly higher on the CRF-S than did students from non CACREP accredited programs. These students generally had higher levels of counseling skill as judged by this measure. Given the convenience of the sample and its size, results must be analyzed carefully. These results do, however, seem to suggest the necessity of further study. There are several conclusions that may be reasonably drawn from these results. The emphasis that the CACREP Standards place on the supervised experience may account for the difference in skill levels between the two groups. Prior research and student self-report support this theory. The fact that these requirements are daunting to unaccredited programs suggests a gap in experiential learning between the two groups.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2002

Author dc:creator

• McDuff, Laura

Contributors dc:contributor

• Altekruse, Michael K.
• Wright, Eugene
• Harris, Henry L.

• Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.
• Counseling.
• Counselors -- Training of.
• CACREP Standards
• accreditation
• counseling skills
• counselor education

Statement dc:rights

• Use restricted to UNT Community
• Copyright
• McDuff, Laura
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 51820307
untcat: b2488654
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3083/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc3083

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc3083