Evaluation of counselling PDF

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EVALUATION OF COUNSELLING PURPOSE, DIFFICULTIES AND CRITERIA

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Anu miss

Anusha V

Dept. of Psychology

2ND Semester 1st MSc Psychology

Evaluation in guidance and counselling refers to the measures used to assess the effectiveness of guidance and counselling programme. Evaluation of guidance and counselling programme not only helps in developing effective and meaningful guidance and counselling programme but also helps counsellors enhance their skills. Evaluation is a critical component of a developmental guidance and counseling program and ensures accountability. The purpose of evaluation is to determine the value of the program, its activities, and staff in order to make decisions or to take actions regarding the future. The program evaluation process goes through four phases planning, implementation, completion, and dissemination and reporting that complement the phases of program development and implementation. Each phase has unique issues, methods, and procedures. Assessment includes diagnosis and treatment planning. As counselors meet with their clients, they make decisions on what problems to address and what interventions to attempt. Hence, assessment permeates every aspect of the counselling process. Assessment is also used for advocacy and placement. PURPOSE OF COUNSELLING EVALUATION Counselling is a process of talking about and working through your personal problems with a counsellor. The counsellor helps you to address your problems in a positive way by helping you to clarify the issues, explore options, develop strategies and increase self-awareness. The practice of assessment entails the collection of information in order to identify, analyze, evaluate, and address the problems, issues, and circumstances of clients in the counseling relationship. Assessment is used as a basis for identifying problems, planning interventions, evaluating and/or diagnosing clients, and informing clients and stakeholders. Many novice counselors may make the mistake of identifying assessment as a means to an end, such as providing a label or diagnosis to a client. In this text, assessment will be viewed as a process essential to all elements of counseling. Whether practicing in a school, private practice, agency, or other health care setting, assessment plays an integral role. Assessment moves beyond the administration of measures. Assessment involves identifying statements, actions, and procedures to help individuals, groups, couples, and families make progress in the counseling environment. Although counselors have the opportunity to limit their scope of practice with respect to modalities, theories, and types of clients, a counselor cannot function without an understanding of the processes and procedures of assessment in counseling.

1. Understand the importance and role of assessment in counseling. 2. Identify psychological constructs and associated operational definitions. 3. Distinguish between standardized and no standardized assessments. 4. Identify relevant historical issues of assessment and the implications for assessment today. 5. Recognize the role and importance of professional organizations with respect to the practice of assessment. 6. Identify competencies related to assessment practices. 7. Identify ethical and legal codes affecting assessment. Assessment is used across all counseling settings in a variety of ways. Assessment is integral to the clinical interview. Assessment includes diagnosis and treatment planning. As counselors meet with their clients, they make decisions on what problems to address and what interventions to attempt. Hence, assessment permeates every aspect of the counseling process. Assessment is also used for advocacy and placement. Through careful assessment, clients can be provided with needed services that otherwise may have been unattainable. When clients are active participants in the assessment process, they have the opportunity to learn something about themselves, including personal strengths, challenges, interests, and activities that promote growth and wellness. Counselors, therefore, are both consumers and producers of assessment data. Counselors need to be aware of the various types of assessment tools in order to select the best instruments for their clients. Counselors need to be well rounded in their delivery of services; application of both standardized and non-standardized assessment strategies is integral to being a competent counselor. In addition to being aware and able to implement a variety of assessment tools, counselors need to be adept in administering, scoring, and interpreting assessment instruments. Counselors are not only accountable to their clients but also to the general public and stakeholders who demand accountability and effective practice. DIFFICULTIES OF COUNSELLING EVALUATION 1. Counseling Reluctant Patients You might occasionally work with someone who isn’t willing to fully open up. That hesitance could stem from shyness, embarrassment, guilt, or skepticism about counseling. Also, some young people whose parents or guardians pushed them into getting professional help might be displaying rebelliousness. In any event, without enough information, it can be challenging for a licensed

mental health counselor to accurately address certain issues. Plus, without enough dialogue going on, it’s hard to build a rapport. 2. Putting Personal Judgments Aside Counselors are human beings, of course. Thus, they come from all kinds of backgrounds, and they hold a wide variety of religious values, political stances, ideas about parenting, and so on. All of those forces can shape the way you view your patients’ situations. However, it’s vital to assess people’s circumstances on their own terms. That is, you must respect your clients’ points of view, cultural norms, and religious beliefs. You can’t just thrust your beliefs on them, which can be tough at times. 3. Setting Relationship Limits It’s important to set guidelines with patients to ensure that your association remains strictly professional. But coming up with and adhering to those regulations isn’t always easy. For example, you might have a rule against physical contact in the office. However, if a patient is crying uncontrollably, your instinct might be to hug him or her. Similarly, when ― if ever ― will you exchange text messages with patients? Should you reserve that form of communication for emergencies? 4. Dealing with a Disjointed System Unfortunately, in the U.S. and many other countries, there’s no streamlined, consistent set of services for people who need mental health care. Schools, the criminal justice system, various substance abuse programs, and hospitals all offer different kinds of therapy with different standards. As a result, you could counsel a patient who’s had plenty of conflicting advice and many types of treatment over the years. Thus, it might be hard for him or her to trust you. 5. Needing a Counselor Yourself Counselors sometimes neglect their own mental health needs. But they can suffer from depression, anxiety, and fatigue just like anyone else. Indeed, hearing patients tell heart wrenching stories can be truly painful. And if you often feel sad or listless, it can negatively affect the quality of your work. Therefore, never rule out the idea of joining a support group or finding someone with whom

you can discuss your feelings. Doing so is often uplifting, and it could help you attend to your patients with renewed purpose and empathy. CRITERIA FOR COUNSELLING EVALUATION Criteria are a set of principles, standards or a measure against which assessment and evaluation are done. In evaluation of guidance and counselling programme/activities, pre-determined criteria help in assessing whether the services rendered are in line with the objectives framed. Therefore, it is very essential that while planning and developing guidance and counselling programme, criteria for evaluation are also properly determined. It will help in making the programme effective. Criteria also help in identification or developing tool for evaluation such as checklist, interview schedule, questionnaire or a rating scale. You can select appropriate tool for collection of data from the students/ teachers/parents etc. to evaluate the programme/activity against the criteria formulated. The obtained data are to be analysed and interpreted against the realisation of goals of the guidance and counselling programme/activities. Sometimes the criteria set for the goal are directly observable and measurable. Here the goal of guidance and counselling programme is to enhance achievement of students. It can be easily observed in terms of their increased attendance in class room, their achievement score/grade, their attitude towards studies and teacher etc. The academic achievement can also be measured using standardized tests or teacher made tests. This kind of evaluation is easy to do. Sometimes counsellor faces problem when the goals to be achieved are not easy to assess. Therefore, a counsellor should be very careful while setting the goals of guidance and counselling programme. It will help in determining criteria for achieving goals. As a counsellor you should set such criteria which can easily be measured. You should also know that the criteria are different for measuring achievement of different goals.

REFERENCE Shaw, M.C. (1973). School Guidance: Objectives, Functions, Evaluation and Change, Boston: Honghton Miffin. Siddiqui, M. H. (2009). Guidance and Counselling, APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, p238-242. Howley, L. D. (2004). Performance assessment in medical education. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 27(3), 285-303....