title: Relationships among experience level and value orientation and the performance of paraprofessional telephone counselors.
abstract: The effectiveness of indigenous paraprofessional helpers is thought to be partially due to the similarity in style and values between then and their clients. However, there is a concern that as they gain experience in an agency, their identification may shift from the clients to the agency. Also, there is a question as to how effective paraprofessionals (selected due to their shared values with a target population) are with value-dissimilar clients. Truax and Carkhuff's scales of facilitative conditions as well as a technique functioning scale were used to assess the helping behavior of paraprofessional telephone counselors at three levels of experience in response to value-similar and value-dissimilar simulated calls. The results indicate that performance generally improved with training and experience and that instead of a uniform deterioration with dissimilar value calls, a complex relationship existed between performance, values, and experience level.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012945:Social Values; D013689:Telephone; D014838:Volunteers