Research on Training Counselors and Clinicians

Graduate and mid-career training and supervision are important processes for all human service professions. Practitioners, trainers, and researchers must all acquire and consistently utilize certain skills, attitudes, and knowledge in order to function effectively during their professional careers. Although process and outcome research in psychotherapy and counseling has been extensively reported (e.g., Bergin & Garfield, 1971; Luborsky, Chandler, Auerbach, Cohen, & Bachrach, 1971) parallel research on training counselors and clinicians was almost nonexistent ten years ago (Matarazzo, Wiens, & Saslow, 1966), and rather sparse even five years ago (Matarazzo, 1971). At present, however, the literature encompasses over 100 empirical studies. Although the methods, curricula, and objectives utilized in training are inseparably interdependent in practice, this paper will focus on training methods because that research literature alone merits thorough review before the enormous task of tying together all the research concerning training's many component processes can be undertaken. Furthermore, research investigating the effects of different training curricula, curriculum content sequences, and curricular materials is, unfortunately, virtually nonexistent in the counselor/clinician training literature (Johnson & Sribbe, 1975; Wexler, 1976). Concerning training objectives, the crucial question of what skills, attitudes, and knowledge