The Development and Validation of a Preliminary Measure for Student Evaluation of Group Counseling Experiences

Abstract

For a sample of 99 university students who participated in group counseling sessions at a campus counseling center, an effort was made to determine the factorial validity of a preliminary scale for student evaluation of group counseling. A factor analysis of the intercorrelations associated with the 11 subscales of the instrument entitled Scale for the Evaluation of Group Counseling Experiences (SEGCE) yielded three dimensions, two of which were easily intepreted. In this self-report instrument, the three factor dimensions reflecting student perceptions of the group experience were identified as (a) Satisfying Experience, (b) Interpersonal Learning, and (c) Increasing Self-Confidence. The results of this factor analysis and those of a detailed item analysis were used to develop a new form of the SEGCE which reduced the number of items from 118 to 79. This new form will soon be undergoing psychometric analysis, the results of which will be subsequently reported.

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