Relationship between counselors' clinical hypotheses and client ratings of counselor effectiveness

The authors assessed the relationship of counseling students' hypothesis formation skill levels to counseling effectiveness. Hypothesis rating scales were selected to assess skill in using a comprehensive range of client data, integrating multiple client dimensions, and forming questions for hypothesis testing. Results indicated that higher ratings of hypothesis formation skill were associated with higher client ratings of counselor effectiveness. A combination of four hypothesis skill ratings predicted more than 60% of the variance in total Counselor Rating Form-Short version (CRF-S) scores, and one or more hypothesis formation skills were predictive of each CRF-S subscale score.