Citation

Elkins RL, Cohen CR. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 1982; 12(2): 84-89.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1982, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7179400

Abstract

This study, carried out in a telephone crisis intervention program in which nonprofessional volunteer counselors received 55 hours of prejob training, isolates the effects of prejob training and on-the-job experience. Participants in the study were evaluated on several parameters including knowledge, counseling skills, acceptance of others, and dogmatism. Three groups of volunteers were measured: group 1--measured immediately before and after prejob training, group 2--measured just after prejob training, and group 3--measured after five months of telephone counseling experience. Results indicate that counselor skills and knowledge significantly increased with prejob training, but did not show further improvement as a result of five months of experience. Attitudes such as acceptance of others and dogmatism did not change either as a result of training or experience. Dogmatism was found to be inversely related to both counselor skill and knowledge.