In light of the apparently important contribution of a counselor's personal characteristics to his/her clinical effectiveness, an examination of the death concerns of suicide intervention workers was undertaken. Results suggest that, relative to controls, crisis workers have consistently higher apprehension about their own mortality, but do not differ from controls in their degree of concern about the deaths of others. The significance of these findings for the selection and training of suicide counselors is noted, and the nature of current measures of death concern is briefly discussed.
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