An evaluation of the long-term outcomes of small-group work for counsellordevelopment

A questionnaire was designed which enquired into the long-term professional applications and outcomes of Rogerian small-group and Tavistock Group Dyna mics training. The 92 respondents were graduates of either a Master's degre e or a Diploma in Human Relations or Counselling Studies in a university co urse where a 'small-group' module was a compulsory element of the taught co urse. Respondents were drawn front graduates of these one-year full-time or two-year part-time courses over a 21-year period. All respondents were inv olved either directly in professional or voluntary counselling, in the appl ication of counselling skills in their work, or in training in counselling and counselling skills at work. The respondents reported no loss of learnin g gains over time: ascribed the application of many specific counselling sk ills to the small-group training process; reported on the affective compone nt of the learning process; and provided only minimal evidence of forms of psychological damage which could be directly ascribed to the experience. Th ese outcomes have to be considered in the light of the relatively low respo nse rate of 33% and the difficulties in monitoring the precise behaviour of the facilitators in the groups.