Anticipated Consequences of Communicating Corrective Feedback During Early Counseling Group Development

This study categorizes types of consequences associated with corrective behavioral feed back messages anticipated by members during the first meeting of counseling groups. Group members (N = 286) were asked to write corrective feedback messages that they would be unwilling to communicate in their groups. This was done at the conclusion of the groups' first meetings. Subjects then completed a form containing statements describing potential consequences of communicating corrective feedback. Subjects indicated their levels of agreement with the consequence statements, as the statements applied to the messages they had written. Factor analysis of responses resulted in seven categories of anticipated conse quences of communicating corrective behavioral feedback Categories were moderately in tercorrelated and exhibited moderate to substantial reliabilities. Potential uses of the categories in group practice and future research on the relationship of feedback to group development are discussed.