Development and Evaluation of an Inventory for Rating Counseling

Abstract

Client ratings of counselors seldom have been investigated as a source of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of counseling. This research was designed to produce a brief but reliable and valid scale for client use. A 68‐item Counseling Evaluation Inventory was developed and studied for item social favorability and was factor analyzed. Three factor scales were identified, refined by item analysis and, for each of 21 critical items retained, scoring weights for all responses were determined. All three factor scales and the Inventory total score demonstrated significant test‐retest stability, and discriminative and/or congruent validity for a selected provisional criterion.