Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether counselors' use of cognitive skills is the factor mediating the relationship between the level of counselors' experiences and counseling outcomes. Thirty-eight counselors participated in this study and held a counseling session with four clients for 30 minutes. The counseling sesson was tape-recorded. Two types of cognitive skills~self talk, formulating clinical hypothesis - that counselors used during the counseling session were assessed. Two types of counseling skill-relationship-building skill, problem solving skill-were evaluated. The outcomes of the counseling session were also evaluated on two dimensions(i.e., smoothness, depth). Results indicated that the use of relationship-building skills was significantly positively correlated with the smoothness of the counseling session wheareas the use of problem-solving skills was significantly positively correlated with the depth of counseling session. The use of problem-solving skill had a significantly positive correlation with the level of counselors' experiences; however, the use of relationship -building skills did not show a significant relationship with the level of counselors' experiences. The use of cognitive skills was significantly positively correlated with the effective use of problem-solving skills and with the smoothness and depth of the counseling session. In addition, experienced counselors were found to use more cognitive skills and qualitatively higher cognitive skills than did novice counselors. Counselors' use of cognivive skills was also found to mediate the relationship between the level of counselors' experiences and the outcomes of the counseling session. The results imply that counselors' use of cognitive skills is the core factor of counseling experiences. In conclusion, cognitive skills need to be emphasized as a major component in counselor education and supervision.