Assessing Progress in Mastery of Counseling Communication Skills

During the last century the attention paid in higher education to the development of professional skills has progressively increased. In the first half of the last century the term ‘skill’ mainly referred to motor or technical actions, for instance driving a car or operating a machine (Murphy, Murphy & Newcomb, 1937). However, during the second half of the last century this term also came into vogue for describing social interactions between humans (Argyle, 1981). Social skills can be defined as “useful distinctive behavior components for social interaction, which are in the user’s repertoire, a repertoire from which the user can choose” (Lang & Van der Molen, 2004, p. 38). These skills cover a broad scale of interpersonal behavior, for instance criticizing, speaking in public or guiding a group discussion. Special examples of social skills are communication skills. These skills are intended to deal adequately with professional conversations, for instance a doctor interviewing a patient or a psychologist counseling a client. This dissertation focuses on the training of counseling communication skills for psychology students.