TPC-Journal-V1-Issue1

76 The Professional Counselor \ Volume 1, Issue 1 A person who needs personality assessment. 134 (53%) 12 (5%) 108 (43%) ( N = 254) A person with psychiatric symptoms who experiences delusions, hallucinations, 112 (44%) 12 (5%) 130 (51%) disorganized speech, and is frequently incapable of meeting ordinary demands of life. ( N = 254) An unemployed individual with 109 (43%) 12 (5%) 134 (53%) physical disability seeking employment. ( N = 255) A person who needs a comprehensive 102 (40%) 16 (6%) 138 (54%) mental health evaluation. ( N = 256) A person who needs intelligence testing. 92 (37%) 18 (7%) 142 (56%) ( N = 252) Sources of Perceptions about Counselors Another line of inquiry addressed the identified sources by which students indicated they developed their perceptions about counselors. In other words, they told us about the factors that influenced them the most regarding how they came to think about professional counselors. The options from which to choose included books, common knowledge, friends or associates, HSPs, insurance company or carrier, Internet, magazines, physician or nurse, movies, newspapers, personal experience, school and education, and television. Only 2% of the participants declined to participate in this section of the survey or marked “none.” Instructions asked students to complete this section in two steps. First, they were to indicate (by checking a corresponding box) whether or not they learned about a professional counselor from the identified source. Students were told they could select multiple sources. In the second step, they were asked to rate whether the information about the HSP was 1 (positive), 2 (neutral) or 3 (negative). Only 2% of the students marked a box described as “other,” indicating that the categories provided were relatively comprehensive. Results from this portion of the survey showed the data falling into three clusters. The two clusters representing extreme scores were of relatively equal size, while the third or middle was small (only two sources in the category). The first cluster showed the following items as being relatively influential in how students came to understand the roles of professional counselors: common knowledge (84%), movies (63%), school and education (60%), friends (55%), books (49%) and television (44%). The middle cluster included personal experience (27%) and Internet (24%). The finding that 27% indicated personal experience to be influential is consistent with the demographic portion of the questionnaire where 28% of students said they had personal contact with a HSP prior to completing the survey. The third cluster comprised those sources that participants said were relatively non-influential in generating their perceptions of professional counselors. They included magazines (20%), physician or nurse (18%), newspaper (13%), HSPs (10%) and insurance companies (5%). Results from the second step in the survey are more difficult to summarize. The data was more dispersed than the first step, although three clusters inductively emerged. Some items received few responses, as they were not selected very frequently in step one. The percentages listed do not add up to 100% for each item because the remaining percentage for each item is accounted by students who did not provide answers for that item. For example, if an item had 1% positive, Types of Issue Yes Not Sure No