Another Look at Counselor, Client, and Supervisor Ratings of Counselor Effectiveness

The purpose of the study was to compare the perceptions of counselors, clients, and supervisors with regard to the effectiveness of counseling. The Counseling Evaluation Inventory (CEI) was used as a measure of counseling effectiveness, using client satisfaction as a criterion. 25 graduate student counselors provided self‐ratings on the CEI. Additional CEI ratings of these counselors were obtained from 120 of their clients and their practicum supervisors. The counselor self‐ratings and the supervisors' ratings were significantly correlated with each other, but neither was significantly correlated with the client CEI ratings. In addition, the client CEI ratings were significantly higher than both the counselor self‐ratings and the supervisors' ratings.