Development of the school counselor self-efficacy scale.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Self-efficacy, defined as people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to attain designated types of performances, is theoretically a mediating factor of behavior. Strong levels of self-efficacy are positively correlated with persistence, goal setting, and negatively correlated with anxiety. Assessing self-efficacy can be an important research link to examine questions of performance. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale designed to assess the self-efficacy of school counselors in their role as defined by the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) national Standards. To this end, an initial list of items was developed from current literature and distributed to a panel of experts. The scale was re-written incorporating the feedback from the panel. This scale was mailed to attendees of the ASCA national conference. After initial analysis, a shorter scale was sent, with a validity instrument, to students in master's level counseling programs around the country.
Factor and item analyses were conducted, resulting in a final version of the scale which includes twenty-five items and four factors. Adequate validity and reliability data were collected.
School counseling self-efficacy was found to be higher among those who had received training in implementing the national standards, among those with more experience, among those who reported having teaching experience, and among students in programs preparing for school counseling when compared to those preparing for mental health counseling.
No significant relationship was found between the self-efficacy scores and a social desirability scale, nor between self-efficacy scores and a general self-concept scale. Significant negative relationships were found between the self-efficacy scale and anxiety, and significant positive, moderate, relationships were found between this self-efficacy scale and a scale assessing individual counseling self-efficacy.
This study provides initial validity and reliability data for a school counseling self-efficacy scale. This study demonstrates sufficient support for the continued use of the scale, with recognition that further analysis is warranted.