Sj. Leierer et al., THE EFFECTS OF COUNSELOR DISABILITY STATUS AND REPUTATION ON PERCEPTIONS OF COUNSELOR EXPERTNESS, ATTRACTIVENESS, AND TRUSTWORTHINESS, Rehabilitation counseling bulletin, 41(4), 1998, pp. 278-292
A study examined the influence of counselor disability status and coun
selor reputation on participant's perceptions of counselors. A sample
of 60 adults with disabilities viewed one of two videotaped vignettes
(counselor with or without a disability) portraying a client-counselor
interaction. The vignette was crossed with three levels of counselor
reputation. Participants rated the counselor's attractiveness, expertn
ess, and trustworthiness, using the Counselor Rating Form-Short. A sig
nificant effect was found for counselor disability status. Counselors
without a disability received consistently higher ratings. There was n
o effect for counselor reputation, and no interaction was found betwee
n disability status and reputation. Implications for theory, practice,
and future research are discussed.