CHSE Odisha Class 12 Psychology Unit 3 Long Answer Questions Part-2

Odisha State Board CHSE Odisha Class 12 Psychology Solutions Unit 3 Long Answer Questions Part-2.

CHSE Odisha 12th Class Psychology Unit 3 Long Answer Questions Part-2

Long Questions With Answers

Question 1.
Counselling Process
Answer:
Meaning and Nature of Counselling:
Counselling provides a system for planning the interview, analysing the counsellor’s and client’s behaviour, and determining the developmental impact on the client. In this section, we will discuss skills, concepts and methods that are designed to help develop concrete competencies. A counsellor is most often interested in building an understanding of the client’s problem by focusing on what understanding the client has of her/his problem and how s/he feels about it.

The actual or objective facts of the problems are considered less important, and it is considered more important to work on the feelings and their acknowledgement by the clients. The focus is more on the person and how s/he defines the problem. Counselling involves a helping relationship, which includes someone seeking help, and someone willing to give help, who is capable of or trained to help in a setting that permits help to be given and received (see Fig.9.2).

The following elements about counselling are common to the major theoretical approaches to counselling :

• Counselling involves responding to the feelings, thoughts and actions of the client
• Counselling involves a basic acceptance of the client’s perceptions and feelings, without using any evaluative standards.
• Confidentiality and privacy constitute essential ingredients in the counselling setting. Physical facilities that preserve this quality are important.
• Counselling is voluntary. It takes place when a client approaches a counsellor. A counsellor never uses any kind of coercion for obtaining information.
• Counsellors and clients both transmit and receive verbal and non-verbal messages during the process. Therefore, awareness and sensitivity to the nature of the message is an important prerequisites for a counsellor’s effectiveness.

Breaking the Myths of Counselling:

• Counselling is not merely giving information.
• Counselling is not giving advice.
• Counselling is not the selection and placement of individuals onto jobs or for courses.
• Counselling is not the same as interviewing though interviewing may be involved.
• Counselling is not influencing attitudes, beliefs and behaviour by persuading, admonishing, threatening or compelling.

Developing Effective Relationships:
For most people who seek help from a counsellor, effective or satisfying relationships are almost non-existent or infrequent. Since the change in behaviour is often created and supported by a network of social support, it is essential for clients to start developing more positive relationships with other persons. The counselling relationship is the initial vehicle through which this begins.

Like all of us, counsellors too are not perfect, but they are trained in developing a more healthy and helpful relationships than others. In brief, counselling usually has an all-inclusive outcome for the clients. Effective behavioural change that takes place in the client is multifaceted. It may show up in the form of a client taking greater responsibility, developing new insight, learning to engage in different behaviours, write down the characteristics of counselling.

Characteristics of an Effective Helper:
Being a trained helper, the counsellor has the responsibility for ensuring that her/his client benefits from counselling and its therapeutic effects are achieved. To a large extent, however, the success of a counselling process depends on the skill, knowledge, attitude, personal qualities and behaviour of a counsellor, any or all of which can enhance or diminish the helping process. In this section, we will discuss four qualities that are associated with effective counsellors. These include:

• Authenticity,
• Positive regard for others
• Ability to empathise and
• Paraphrasing.
  Let us understand these qualities briefly:

Authenticity:
Your image or perception of yourself makes up your “I”. The self-perceived “I” is revealed through ideas, words, actions, clothing and lifestyle. All of these communicate your “I” to others. Those who come into close contact with you also build their own image of you for themselves, and they also sometimes Communicate this image to you.

For example, friends tell you what they like and dislike about you. Your teachers and parents praise and/or criticise you. You are also evaluated by persons you respect. These collective judgments by people you respect also called ‘significant others, develop into a ‘me’. This other perceived ‘me’ is the person that others perceive you to be.

This perception may be the same as or different from your own self-perception of ‘I’. The degree to which you are aware of these perceptions of others as well as of your own perception of yourself indicates that you are self-aware. Authenticity means that your behavioural expressions are consistent with what you value and the way you feel and relate to your inner self-image.

Positive Regard for Others:
In a counselling-counsellor relationship, a good relationship allows freedom of expression. It reflects acceptance of the idea that the feelings of both are important. We should remember that when we form a new relationship, we experience feelings of uncertainty and anxiety. Such feelings pt minimised when a counsellor extends a positive regard to the client by accepting that it is all right to feel the way the client is feeling. In order to show positive regard to others, the following guidelines may be kept in mind:

• When you are speaking, get into the habit of using “I” messages rather than “you” messages. An example of this would be, “I understand” rather than “you should not”.
• Respond to what the other person has said, after checking with her/him.
• Give the other person the freedom to share feelings or anything she/he wants to say. Do not interrupt or cut in.
• Do not assume that the other person knows what you are thinking. Express yourself according to the frame of reference, i.e. in the context of the verbal exchange taking place.
• Do not label either yourself or the other person (e.g., “you are an introvert”, etc.).

Empathy:
This is one of the most critical competencies that a counsellor needs to have. You have already read in Chapter 5 that empathy is the ability of a counsellor to understand the feelings of another person from her/his perspective. It is like stepping into someone else’s shoes and trying to understand the pain and troubling feelings of the other person. There is a difference between sympathy and empathy. In sympathy, you play the saviour. You may think that someone deserves your kindness.

Paraphrasing:
This skill has already been discussed in the section on communication earlier. You will recall that this involves the ability of a counsellor to reflect on what the client says and feels using different Words.

Ethics of Counselling:
In recent years, counsellors have taken important steps to develop their professional identity. A critical criterion for any professional group is the development and implementation of appropriate ethical standards. Social workers, marriage counsellors, family therapists and psychologists —all have their ethical codes. Awareness of ethical standards and codes is extremely important because counselling is a part of the service sector. Not following ethical standards may have legal implications.

While learning about the competencies of a counsellor, it is important for you to know that the client-counsellor relationship is built on ethical practice. The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed a code of ethical conduct for behaviour “‘and decision-making in actual clinical settings. The practical knowledge of these ethical domains can guide the practice of counselling in achieving its desired purpose.

Some of the APA practice guidelines are:

• Knowledge of ethical/professional codes, standards and guidelines, knowledge of statutes, rules, regulations and case law relevant to the practice of psychology.
• Recognise and analyse ethical and legal issues across the range of professional activities in the clinical setting.
• Recognise and understand the ethical dimensions/features of her/his own attitudes and practice in the clinical setting.
• Seek appropriate information and consultation when faced with ethical issues.
• Practice appropriate professional assertiveness related to ethical issues.

Interview Stage/Phase:
Any counselling process, be it individual or group, starts with the interview stage. This stage could also be referred to as the familiarization, orientation or introductory stage. This stage is very important because for you as a counsellor to start well determines the success of other stages and the entire counselling relationship. The counsellor and the client meet for the first time.

The counsellor makes a deliberate effort to get acquainted with the client by establishing rapport. This is done by asking the client to sit down so that he or she would be emotionally relaxed in the counsellor’s office. The Counsellor inquires about the client’s name, class, parents, friends, progress in school and mission in the counsellor’s office. This should be done with caution so that the client does not feel as if he or she is being interrogated.

The counsellor further assures the client that whatever is discussed will be kept confidential. This is to win the client’s confidence and make him or her open up to say the purpose for coming to the counsellor’s office.  The client may or may not present his problem during this stage. The counsellor should not be in a hurry to make him/her disclose his mission.

During this stage, the counsellor needs to display in his behaviour all the qualities of an effective counsellor by being patient listening carefully, showing empathy, showing unconditional positive regard that is treating his clients with respect, and warmth, irrespective of his age, sex, race, colour, religion and socio-economic status. This is very important as counsellors are not expected to be segregational or discriminative.

Working Stage/Phase:
This is the second stage/phase of the counselling process. As the title suggests, it is the stage where the counsellor fully engages the client in a discussion about what to do and how it will be done concerning the problem of the client. If the client has not disclosed his/ her mission in the first stage, the counsellor now asks the client. He uses questioning techniques to make the client open up.

Questions such as:
Are you okay? Can I help you? What is the matter? What has brought you to my office? The client now responds. The counsellor having listened, to the client will suggest different techniques depending on the nature of the problem presented on how the problem can be handled. The counsellor uses techniques such as responding, exploring, restatement, interpretation, confrontation, unconditional positive regard, empathy, silence and catharsis to diagnose the problem.

Also, it is during this stage that the goals for counselling are set by the client and counsellor. The counsellor here tells the client that counselling aids such as cassettes, radio, video and tape recorders may be used and the purpose for using them will be explained to the client. The counsellor should also tell the client the number of sessions that the counselling relationship may cover. This will depend on the nature of the problem.

If the problem is a simple one, it may take fewer sessions but if it is a complicated one, it may take a longer period to solve especially problems bordering on a change of behaviour or breaking of habit. If the counsellor needs to contact an “outsider” who may be responsible for the 4 problems faced by the client, the permission and consent of the client must be sought. The counsellor also takes the client through the methods to be used in solving the problem. All these are dope in the working stage of the counselling process.

Termination Stage/Phase:
This stage is the third stage in the counselling process. Termination means bringing an end to the counselling relationship between the counsellor and the client. Different reasons have been given by many authors on why a counselling relationship may end or terminate. Some of these reasons are given below for you to understand. It is important to stress here that the termination of a counselling relationship may be a temporary or permanent one. The following reasons are given by different authors.

Counselling Goals are achieved:
As discussed earlier in this unit, you were told that the client and the counsellor would set the goals for counselling. When these goals have been realised to the satisfaction of the client and counsellor, the relationship can be called off temporarily or permanently. Temporarily because the counsellor may want to follow up the client to see if he is doing well or putting into practice what has been discussed and suggested. Permanently if the client’s: problem is solved and may not need to see the counsellor again. The client should be told that if he has a problem in future, he should be free to see the counsellor.

Un-cooperative Attitude from the Client:
The counsellor may discover that the client he or she is dealing with is not cooperating with him, especially when the client is a referred person, the counsellor should still try his or her best to make the client understand why he or she needs counselling. If after several attempts nothing good is coming out of the relationship, the counsellor can terminate the relationship temporarily and ask the client to think over his behaviour and may decide to come back if convinced to continue.

The client may decide not to continue:
The counsellor and client may enter into a counselling relationship without any problem. After some time, the client may decide not to continue for reasons best known to him. Sometimes it may be due to the fact that the client is not honest in the relationship and when his attention is drawn to this fact he may decide to stay away and remain with his problem. The reasons for the behaviour may not be given to the counsellor. The best thing to do is to allow the client go as counselling is not by force.

Referral to an Expert/Specialist:
The counsellor may discover that the client has a problem that is beyond his competence, area and experience, when this happens the client should be referred to the appropriate quarters for specialized treatment. For instance, the client may approach the counsellor with a problem that is both medical and educational, such as having had eye vision and his inability to read comprehension passages during English language lessons.

The counsellor should handle the educational aspect if he is competent in English or makes a referral to an English teacher and a medical doctor. He should not start to prescribe glasses or drugs for the client because that is not his area of specialization. The counsellor should get the client prepared before referring him or her. The client should know why he is being sent to another person.

Practicum/Internship may end before the Counselling Goals are achieved:
There are instances when the counselee in question is a student, either undergraduate or post-graduate, posted to a school for practicum exercise. There may be instances when the practicum period will end without the counsellor achieving his purpose or the school may close for the holiday, when this happens the relationship can be terminated temporarily or permanently. As far as the school calendar is concerned, that may be permanent termination, but if the counsellor picks interest in a student’s case and wants to help in solving the  problem, he may decide to visit the student at home and continue on a personal basis.

Death of Counsellor or Client:
A counselling relationship may be terminated permanently when the counsellor or client dies. If it is the counsellor that dies, the client may seek counsel from another counsellor. There may be other reasons for terminating a counselling relationship not mentioned here. You should read other books for more information on processes and techniques of counselling.

Follow-Up Stage/Phase:
This is the stage in a counselling process where you the counsellor will want to know what is happening to your client after termination. Hie follow-up aims at finding out whether the client is carrying out the decisions arrived at before you ended the session for every client-so you the counsellor determine with the client whether the stage of follow-up will be necessary.

Counselling Strategy:
Strategy in counselling is basically the technique or method used during counselling to understand and find a solution to a problem presented by the client. Strategies are tools used by the counsellor to handle problems. For instance, a medical doctor may use a stethoscope to diagnose a disease, a fisherman uses fishing nets while a mechanic uses spanners and hammers.

So also the counsellor uses tools such as listening, responding, interpretation, probing, exploring, restatements, confrontation, disclosure, unconditional positive regard, empathy and summarization as techniques or strategies during counselling; all these strategies are emphasis skills that the counsellor uses while counselling. The ability of a counsellor to solve a client’s problem depends on how he uses the strategies.

Question 2.
Meaning Of Listening Skill.
Answer:
The entire counselling process begins with listening to the client. Listening is the ability of the counsellor to pay attention to the verbal and non-verbal expressions of the client. It involves hearing words, receiving the sound made by the client and gaining insight into whatever is uttered. Attentive listening is a skill that must be developed and used by any counsellor. Some counsellors may listen to the client but not hear what he or she has said.

When the counsellor listens attentively he is conveying to the client that he understands him, this he may do by nodding and not speaking as the client talks. Okun (1982) observed that the skill of listening may surface as the only strategy needed in a helping relationship. In fact, listening skill is the foundation stone on which other skills depend. If a counsellor has not listened attentively, he may not be able to use techniques such as responding, restatement, questioning, confrontation and self-disclosure.

All these depend on how well the Counsellor has listened to the client. Kolo (1997) also observed that techniques like “minimal encourager” may not be used if the counsellor had not listened attentively. These minimal encourager-s include, “yes”, “tell me more” “is that so”? “hum! “I am listening”. Kolo (1997) also highlighted some factors that could hinder effective listening by the counsellor. They are:

• The inability of the client to hear the counsellor.
• Lack of trust between the client and the counsellor.
• When the client is shy or timid.
• Inner rules that inhibit self-disclosure.
• Tension and anxiety on the part of the client.
• Gender influence, socio-economic status, and religious background.
  The counsellor should, as much as possible, find a way of handling these factors so that there

Interviewing Skills:
Cast your mind back to our discussion on the counselling process. As earlier mentioned, interviewing skill is very important for any effective counselling to develop. It takes about 50 per cent of the counselling time. A good interviewing skill demonstrated by a counsellor only shows his or her competence as a counsellor and may win the confidence of his/her client. It shows that the counsellor has concern and empathy for the client. A hypothetical case is cited for the readers’ study. A counsellor and a client. A client in SSII reading Arts subjects comes to the counsellor for guidance on the possible courses to study at the university.

The counsellor is sitting in his office reading a textbook on counselling.
The student knocks at the door.
Counsellor: Yes come right in.
Client: She enters the office.
Counsellor: How are you today? Please sit down.
Client: She is hesitant but the counsellor encourages her to feel free and sit down.
Counsellor: What is your name and what class are you in?
Client: I am Amina in SSII.
Counsellor: Can I help you? Or what has brought you to my office?
Client: I saw a notice on the bulletin board to see the counsellor when we have a problem, so I decided to come.
Counsellor: Yes you are right, you are in the right place. What can I do for you?
Client: I bought the JAMB form I don’t know how to fill it and I don’t know what course to read In the University.
Counsellor: What subjects are you reading? And what do you intend to read later in life?
Client: I am offering Arts subjects and I want to read Law.
Counsellor: Most of the Universities offer Law.
Client: I will rather go to the University in the North because I have never been to the South or East.
Counsellor: There is nothing bad in trying other places since you are from the north. You need to go out and interact with people from other places, but your choice is final.
Client: I will think about it and discuss it with my parents because they will be responsible for my upkeep there.
Counsellor: Concerning the subjects you are offering, you need to be good in English, History, Government, Literature and other Arts subjects. You also need to consider the hazards in the job, like travelling to get information about a case, attack from opponents, etc. to mention a few. Are you the outgoing and outspoken type?
Counsellor: You should come to the office at your free period to fill out the form together so that you can submit it on time.
Client: Thank you, Sir, for your time and assistance.
At die, next meeting the counsellor and client will explore the Universities and the client will pick one.

Question 3.
Group Dynamic Process In Counselling Introduction.
Answer:
Group dynamic process in counselling is another method of providing guidance. Counselling services to a group of students or clients. Although information, observations and studies have shown that some problems experienced by clients are better handled when treated individually, the process of using a group process in solving some problems cannot be overemphasized. In this unit, an attempt is made to describe groups in the context of counselling relationships, purposes of group formation, forming a group for counselling intervention and stages of the group process.

Group Dynamics:
Group may be described as any collection of human beings who are brought into a social relationship with one another, while group dynamics is all that it takes to form a group. It should be noted that man’s life, to some extent, consists of group life. When a man is born, he is brought into a group made up of his parents, father and mother himself inclusive making it a group of three that continues to enlarge with the arrival of other siblings.

He leaves home and goes to school, he associates with his classmates, and another group of individuals in the class, and he goes to secondary and university the same is the case even in the working place he may need to work in a group of people. So group dynamics is very important in determining the social relationships of individuals. Group counselling is an important aspect of counselling activities. There are instances where the counsellor must just see the students in the group.

The counsellor may not achieve much progress and success if he adopts the individual counselling strategy. Thus for the formation of a group for counselling purposes,’ some group dynamics procedure must be put in place. For instance, in some schools depending on how prevalent these behaviour problems are, such as excessive fighting, chronic tiredness or fatigue, violent outbursts, aggressiveness, extreme withdrawals (isolates) inability to get along with other peers, shabby dressing, drug abuse, sexual harassment, telling lies etc. these can be approached using group counselling strategy.

When the groups are small, individuals find it easy to express their feelings about a wide range of personal problems. Individuals who have similar problems when put together for counselling intervention, identify with others and realise that they are not alone and that, there are other people who share similar problems. This makes them open up so as to share experiences and find a way of finding solutions to their problems.

Because of the opportunity for interaction in groups, the members can express their concerns and difficulties and believe they can be gently heard, they, therefore, help one another gain increased self-acceptance. A counselling group must have a purpose depending on the nature of the problem.

Some of the purposes and goals of forming a group according to UNESCO (2000) include the following:

• To grow in self-acceptance and learn not to demand perfection.
• To learn how to trust oneself and others.
• To foster self-knowledge and the development of a unique self-identity.
• To lessen fears of intimacy, and learn to reach out to those who would like to be closer to you.
• To become aware of choices and to make choices wisely.
• To become more sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.
• To clarify values and decide whether, and how to modify them to find ways of understanding and resolving personal problems.

Formation Qf The Group:
In forming a counselling group, students should realise that the place to start is by clarifying the rationale and purpose for forming it. It is very important to note that adequate time should be spent in planning for its formation. If proper planning is not made and if the members are not carefully selected and prepared the entire process can flounder. The step to take is announcing the counsellor’s intentions and recruiting members. The counsellor needs to announce what the group is for and what it intends to do for the members that will be recruited and participate.

How a group is announced influence the way it will be received by potential members, as well as the kind of people that will join the group. Personal contact with potential members has been found to be one of the best methods of recruiting members. For instance, when the writer of this unit conducted a study on three modes of treatment for anxiety and improving English comprehension skills amongst secondary school students, he personally visited the school, met the school counsellors told them her mission and solicited their support to use the students in that school.

All the SS II students were gathered and informed of the purpose of the study and how they stand to benefit from the study in terms of reducing their anxiety level and increasing their performance in the English language through study skills counselling, rational emotive therapy and a combination of the two strategies. Volunteers indicated and forty (40) of them were randomly chosen from the 92 volunteers and were assigned to experimental and control groups.

The next process in forming a group for counselling involves screening and selecting members. The counsellor who is the group leader would conduct a pre-group interview and give them inventory to fill or answer the questionnaire given to them. He then selected group members whose needs, goals, and problems are compatible or similar to the established goals of the group. The counsellor may ask each participant these questions:

• Why does this person want to join the group?
• How ready is the person to become actively involved in the process of self-examination that will be part of the group?
• Does the person have a dear understanding of the nature and purpose of the group? Do they have a view of what is expected of them?
• Is there any indication that a person may be counterproductive to the „’ development of cohesion in the group? Or will the group be counterproductive to the person?

Some practical considerations in group formation: In selecting members for a particular group, these factors are to be considered.
Size of the Group:
In forming a counselling group, the size of the group matters a lot for the effectiveness of the process. In an ideal situation, the size is determined by the age of the members, the experiences of the counsellor, the type and purpose of the group and whether there is a co-counsellor or co-leader. Children in elementary school maybe 4-5 members in a group, while adolescents may be 8-10 members UNESCO (2000).

For adults, 2-4 hour weekly sessions might be preferable. The frequency and duration of the session are dependent on the style of leadership and the type of people in the group. For instance, in the study on anxiety conducted which was referred to earlier, the members were adolescents, we met once a week for one hour and for ten weeks with the first week as the pre-treatment session and the tenth (10th) week as the post-treatment session.

Duration and Time for Meeting:
In determining the duration and time for the meeting, frequent short sessions may be used. This suits their attention span. If the group is taking place in the school setting, the session can be after the regular class period. This is to avoid clashing with the school timetable and creating unnecessary conflict between the counsellor, students and the school authority.

For the adults, having 2-4 hours may be ideal. However, being civil servants or businessmen and women they may not be changed to spare. 2-4 hours during the week, but this session can take place during the weekends. The duration time is because they have greater or higher attention spans than adolescents or children.

Place of Meeting:
The next pertinent question is where should this meeting take place. Wherever is chosen as the place for the meeting, the leader should ensure adequate physical arrangement, and good ventilation and the place must guarantee some degree of privacy and freedom from distraction. That is why it is not good to have such sessions in the classroom, staffroom or in the counsellor’s office if the space is enough to accommodate all the members.

Nature of Membership:
The counsellor needs to determine if the membership will be on a voluntary or involuntary basis. Voluntary members have been found to be the best because they
voluntarily avail themselves of counselling unlike those referred. Sometimes it may be that the counsellor wants to address a particular issue but can not do it on an individual basis so he adopts the group method. The counsellor must orientate the members and prepare them to become part of the group. Also, the counsellor should tell the group what they would gain by participating in the group.

Nature of the Group:
An open group is one characterized by changing membership while a closed group adds no new members during the lifetime of the group. Sometimes, closed groups have advantages that are distinct, because trust, and openness can be developed and work accomplished. If members are allowed to drop from the group and new ones join at random, it may be difficult to determine the success of the therapy used in the group.

Pre-Group Session:
It is absolutely necessary for the counsellor or leader to conduct a pre-group session. This could be an extension of the screening process. Also, important information is given to members to

Groupdynamicprocess:
This process starts with giving the members certain rules that will guide their participation in the group. It could be verbal or written. Each member has to be committed to this guide as it serves as the guiding rule.

• Members are to avoid any drugs during or before the meeting.
• Members are expected to be punctual and regular to meetings.
• Members should not engage in any illicit sexual relationship with the opposite sex in the group.
• Members must avoid smoking during sessions.
• Confidentiality must be maintained by all members.
• Physical violence must be guided and verbally abusive language should be avoided.
• Members are given list of their rights and responsibilities and what is expected of them before they join the group.
• Children and adolescents must produce written consent from their parents and guardians.

Before anyone drops out of the group, he should notify the leader and discuss in the group before leaving. The next step in group process dynamics are the stages involved in the process. Four stages are identified here.

The initial stages:
The central process involved in this stage involves orientation and exploration. Members get to know each other by age, name, class, and family background and also learn how the group functions. They also discuss fears and hopes pertaining to the group’s identified personal goals and determine the safety of the group. They also choose amongst themselves the group monitor. Each of the members assesses himself or herself and ask pertinent questions.

The transition stage:
This is the second stage in the group process and is characterized by the expression of feelings regarding interaction in the group, as well as an individual personal group. Since the group comprises of people from different family backgrounds, cultures, religions, socio-economic status of parents, ages, each member may be sceptical or hesitant to open up. As time goes on and as they realise that sessions are held to help them out, they open up and free themselves from unnecessary anxiety and fear.

The working stage:
The working stage is characterized by the commitment of members to explore significant problems they have brought to the session. Group cohesion is used during this stage, members become transparent with one another, this is shown by the level of cooperation shown by members in the group. Also, each show some degree of initiative behaviour and are punctual to meetings, attendance rate is high, trust for one another is shown, they support and encourage one another after listening to the experiences of each other. Cohesion is ascertained after negative feelings expressed by members have been dealt with. This ensures trustworthiness.

The final stage:
The final stage is characterized by the successful accomplishment of the difficult process of consolidation and termination. This is when the purpose of initiating the group is achieved, if the sessions had been handled adequately, the members may have a feeling of sadness that they are parting with friends and the leader. They may also wonder if they will be able to put into practice what they have learned without the help of group members and leaders.

The leader may suggest having a follow-up session to encourage members put into practice what they have learned or the need to change. The final stage is very important because it gives the members the opportunity to clarify their experiences, consolidate the gains they have made and revisit their decisions about the newly acquired behaviour they want to implement in their everyday life.

The counsellor can use these follow-up devices to check his members.

• In Follow-up interviews, the leader may try and arrange an interview with each member a few weeks or months after the termination of the group.
• Members can contact one another periodically after termination to give support.
• The counsellor can organize a follow-up group session for the entire members after Termination.

Question 4.
Describe the set of competencies that must be kept in mind while administering a psychological test.
Answer:
The set of competencies that must be kept in mind while administering a psychological test are as follows:
Ability to select and implement multiple methods and means of evaluation in ways that are responsive to, and respectful of diverse individuals, couples, families and groups.

• Ability to utilise systematic approaches to gather data required for taking decisions.
• Knowledge of psychometric issues and bases of assessment methods.
• Knowledge of issues related to the integration of different data sources.
• Ability to integrate assessment data from different sources for diagnostic purposes.
• Ability to formulate and apply diagnoses to understand the strengths and limitations of current diagnostic approaches.
• Capacity for effective use of supervision to implement and enhance skills.

Question 5.
What is the typical format of a counselling interview?
Answer:
The format of a counselling interview is as follows:
Opening of the Interview:
The opening of the interview involves establishing rapport between two communicators. The purpose is to make the interviewee comfortable. Generally, the interviewer starts the conversation and does most of the talking at the outset. This serves two functions, i.e, it establishes the goal of the interview and gives the interviewee time to become comfortable with the situation and the interviewer.

Body of the Interview:
The body of the interview is the heart of the process. In this stage, the interviewer asks questions in an attempt to generate information and data that are required for the purpose.

The sequence of Questions:
To accomplish the purpose of an interview, the interviewer prepares a set of questions, also called a schedule, for different domains, or categories s/he wants to cover. To do this, the interviewer must first decide on the domains/ categories under which information is to be generated.

For example, in the questions used in job interviews, die interviewer selected several categories such as the nature of the organisation they last worked for, satisfaction with the past job, views on the product, etc. These categories and the questions within them are framed ranging from easy-to-answer to difficult-to-answer. Questions are also formulated to assess facts as well as subjective assessments.

Question 6.
What do you understand by the term counselling? Explain the characteristics of an effective counsellor.
Answer:
Counselling provides a system for planning the interview, analysing the counsellor’s and client’s behaviour and determining the developmental impact on the client. In this section, we will discuss skills, concepts and methods that are designed to help develop concrete competencies. A counsellor is most often interested in building an understanding of the client’s problem by focusing on what understanding the client has of her/his problem and how s/he feels about it.

The actual or objective facts of the problems are considered less important, and it is considered more important to work on the feelings and their acknowledgement by the clients. The focus is more on the person and how s/he defines the problem.

The following elements about counselling are common to the major theoretical approaches to counselling:

• Counselling involves responding to the feelings, thoughts and actions of the clients.
• Counselling involves a basic acceptance of the client’s perceptions and feelings, without using any evaluative standards.
• Confidentiality and privacy constitute essential ingredients in the counselling setting. Physical facilities that preserve this quality are important.
• Counselling is voluntary. It takes place when a client approaches a counsellor. A counsellor never uses any kind of coercion for obtaining information.
• Counsellors and clients both transmit and receive verbal and non-verbal messages during the process. Therefore, awareness and sensitivity to the nature of the message is an important prerequisites for a counsellor’s effectiveness.