Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
Career counselling is an activity that influences a wide range of people, from adolescents to adults. Contemporary writers on the subject, for example Brown and Brooks (1996) and Gysbers (1998), are increasingly emphasising the view that career development is a life span issue and that it affects other life roles. Given this, these writers advocate that career counselling should equip the client with the necessary skills to make career decisions. They contend that individuals can only make sensible career decisions when career counsellors facilitate conditions that enable clients to gain self-knowledge and career knowledge (Sharf, 1997).
To this end, career counsellors frequently use psychological tests. A fundamental consideration in using psychological tests is that the tests be of high technical status. This implies that the tests are (a) reliable and valid, (b) item content and norms are appropriate, and (c) test instructions and interpretation methods are clear (Foxcroft, 2001). Numerous guidelines exist for the construction and application of psychological tests. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the dissemination of test results to facilitate appropriate interpretation (Zytowski, 1999).
The above factors illustrate the importance of career counselling. The purpose of this study is therefore to attempt to fill a perceived gap in the literature, and provide more information on the social influence of career counsellors and psychological tests. Since there is presently no specific overview of the standing and status of test interpretation styles and the status of tests in career counselling, this study will attempt to broaden the knowledge base pertaining to the best practice for career counselling.
A theoretical overview of career counselling models is presented as a means of introducing those career counselling models that have been instrumental in guiding the
practice of career counselling. The literature shows that the career counselling approach adopted by counsellors is based on their theoretical orientation.
From the above discussion it is evident that the use of psychological tests is pertinent to the career counselling process. Consensus has been reached as to the appropriateness and status of psychometric tests and but not as to the most appropriate means of disseminating test results. This study alludes to the importance of involving clients in the interpretation of test results. As such this study hypothesises that test interpretation styles that involve clients will be deemed more valuable by the client. This implies that the clients will perceive the session as having more depth, smoothness, positivity and arousal.
In addition, this study contends that clients who are involved in the test interpretation process will perceive their counsellors as more influential on the social influence dimensions of expertness, attractiveness and trustworthiness (Hanson et al., 1997). Furthermore, this study speculates that psychological tests need to be of high technical status or else clients will be less willing to accept the test results (Walsh & Betz, 1995).
From this perspective, this study hypothesises that clients who are actively involved in the interpretation of test results and are aware of the status of the test, namely that it is of high status, will be more inclined to accept test results as being valid. Similarly, these clients will perceive the counsellor as being more expert, trustworthy and attractive.
In an attempt to confirm these hypotheses, thirty-two postgraduate students in psychology at the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions. These conditions consisted of high or low test status and a test interpretation style that either encouraged collaboration or discouraged collaboration. The former test interpretation style was termed the non-delivered test interpretation style, whilst the latter was known as the delivered test interpretation style.
The measurement instruments included the Counselor Rating Form-Short Version (CRF-S) and the SEQ. The CRF-S was used to elicit scores pertaining to counsellor
characteristics of expertness, trustworthiness and attractiveness. The SEQ was employed to obtain a measure of session impact, where impact is measured in terms of session depth, smoothness, positivity and arousal. The results of this study were attained using a 2 „e 2 factorial design. MANCOVAs, ANCOVAs and t-tests were used to elicit statistical results.
The statistical results showed that counsellors employing a non-delivered test interpretation style were more influential on the dimensions of attractiveness and trustworthiness. These results attest to the fact that counsellors who use non-delivered test interpretation styles are perceived by their clients as being similar to them and as having positive regard for them. Similarly, non-delivered counsellors are perceived as having their client¡¦s best interests at heart. These are essential components of any counselling situation.
The results refuted the hypothesis that non-delivered test interpretation styles would have more impact than delivered test interpretation styles, where impact is measured in terms of session depth, smoothness, positivity and arousal. The implications of this finding indicate that, in general and irrespective of the style used by the counsellor, counselling sessions should provide the client with session depth, smoothness, positivity and arousal. The challenge facing counsellors is to provide the style of interpretation that meets the needs of the client.
Lastly, this research can allow one to infer that the consumers of psychological tests continue to assume that psychological tests are of high technical status. Given this, it is the responsibility of those who construct tests and those who use tests to ensure that tests continue to be of high technical status.
This research has confirmed that test interpretations, as interventions, affect the counselling process in clinically meaningful and measurable ways.