This research study was performed in an attempt to fill an apparent void regarding the relative utility and comprehensiveness of three published, theoretically-based, idiographic, initial assessment inventories: Integral Intake (II), Life-Style Introductory Interview (LI), and Multimodal Life History Inventory (MI). “Experts” -- defined as professors of counseling or psychology and licensed practitioners who have been practicing as counselors or psychologists for at least five years - read through the inventories and then evaluated them by responding to both (qualitative) open-ended questions as well (quantitative) rankings and ratings. The researcher posed three primary research questions: 1) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the overall helpfulness of the three inventories; 2) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the comprehensiveness -- both relative to each of the eight dimensions of the client (thoughts, emotions, behaviors, physical aspects of the client, physical aspects of the client's environment, culture, spirituality, and what is most meaningful to the client) and overall -- of the three inventories; and 3) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the efficiency with which the three inventories assessed the eight dimensions. Results indicated that participants consistently evaluated the II and MI as more helpful, comprehensive, and efficient than the LI - both …

This study was designed to determine the diverse practices of group counseling instructors in the delivery of the required experiential group. A small group experience (experiential group) is required of all counseling students in accredited institutions. The accreditation body for counseling programs is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The experiential group has been considered to be a valuable and integral part of counselor training. However, the group has been controversial because of ethical issues involving dual relationships and the right to privacy. The purpose of this study was to determine how group counseling instructors deliver the experiential group, compare current practices to recommended practices in the literature, and recommend changes based on disparities that may exist. The difference between this study and previous surveys of group counseling instructors is that the sample in this study involves CACREP institutions exclusively and the focus is on CACREP standards rather than the standards of the Association for Specialists in Group Work. The results of the study showed that approximately one third of the instructors surveyed indicated that they also serve as leaders of the experiential group. Many of these instructors who serve as group leaders also …