Counseling Confidence in Preservice and Early Career Speech-Language Pathologists

Abstract

Purpose: Effective counseling skills are included in standards of practice by speech-language pathology accrediting and training programs, although many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) continue to report a lack of skills in this area. The purpose of this study was to determine whether SLP graduate students and early career SLPs who have taken a dedicated counseling course report higher levels of confidence in counseling skills than those whose counseling training was infused across the curriculum. A secondary aim was to determine which specific counseling skills have the strongest relationship with completing a counseling course. Method: A survey, adapted from the Counselor Activity Self-Efficacy Scales for Speech-Language Pathologists, was used to gather information from SLP graduate students and early career SLPs using nonprobability sampling. Data were analyzed from 140 surveys. Research questions were answered descriptively and with independent-samples t tests. Correlation analysis was used to determine which counseling skills were linked with completion of a dedicated counseling course. Results: Participants who completed a counseling course reported significantly increased confidence across all counseling domains assessed: Helping Skills Exploration, Helping Skills Action, Helping Skills Insight, Emotional Support Skills, and Session Management. Twenty-six counseling skills were significantly correlated to completing a counseling course. Regardless of educational approach, confidence in personal adjustment counseling skills was lower than that in informational counseling skills. However, personal adjustment counseling skills confidence was significantly higher for participants who had completed a dedicated course. Conclusions: Overall, the findings of this study suggest that dedicating a course to the education and training of counseling skills in graduate programs may be beneficial. Implications of these findings for clinical applications and future directions in training are discussed. Spillers (2007) posited that the therapeutic process takes a client on two simultaneous journeys. The first is more overt and one in which the speech-language pathologist (SLP) actively leads and engages the client with the remediation of communication and/or swallowing disorders. The second is more covert, driven by the client, and involves their own personal journey as they work through new existential questions when faced with their life-changing impairments. The skill set needed by SLPs to help clients traverse both journeys requires targeted training and development in the management of, and counseling for, clients with communication and/or swallowing disorders. SLPs receive extensive training and a variety of learning experiences to prepare them to lead their client through the first journey. Accredited graduate programs designate specific classes, training opportunities, and clinical