title: Selecting nonprofessional counselor trainees with the Group Assessment of Interpersonal Traits (GAIT).
abstract: The GAIT is a procedure for sampling and measuring communication behavior. Candidates for a counselor-training program (136 Ss; 86% women; average age 44 yr.) took the GAIT in 18 groups and completed written forms for staff screening. Data included pre-GAIT first impression peer ratings and GAIT Empathy. Acceptance, and Openness ratings by peers and by trained audiotape judges. After nine months of training, 26 remaining Ss were judged on a counseling readiness criterion. First impression and peer GAIT ratings were positively intercorrelated, but none predicted counseling readiness. The criterion was correlated with both trained GAIT Empathy (Kendall tau = .40) and staff ratings (.41. both ps less than .01). Suggestions were made for using the GAIT as a counselor selection instrument.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D003376:Counseling / Q000193:education*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment