Study Details

Title:

Counselor-Client Assessment Simulation

Researcher:

Alicia Bouyack   ( Log in to contact study team )

Contact:

"Alicia Bouyack" <selve030@umn.edu>

Term:

Spring 2026

Description:

You are invited to participate in a counselor-client assessment simulation. The purpose of this project is to provide graduate students enrolled in PSY 8502: Assessment in Counseling Psychology with an opportunity to practice their interviewing and assessment skills. After signing up for this simulation, a graduate teaching assistant will evaluate your eligibility for the study over email, explain the study purpose, and answer any questions you have. If you are eligible, you will be assigned to one of the students. You will meet with the student for three, 45-minute sessions and will be asked to complete two online assessments (i.e., Strong Interest Inventory and California Psychological Inventory) that take about one hour each to complete, for a total of roughly five hours. During the intake session, you only have to share as much as you like and you are not required to disclose any information that may cause you discomfort. Some of this personal information, including your assessment results, may be included in practice reports in which a pseudonym will be used to mask your identity. **The benefit of participating in this study is that you get to take an interest and a personality assessment, which the graduate student will interpret during their sessions with you. This is both fun and informative. The Strong Interest Inventory will tell you about your interests, which is helpful in planning for your future career. The California Psychology Inventory will tell you about your personality traits and tendencies.** Any information given by you will be strictly confidential and every effort will be made to safeguard your privacy and protection. Please note that throughout the course of the activity, the graduate students and instructional team may not be able to keep confidential any disclosure or endorsement of thoughts to harm yourself or another person. In the event that you tell the course instructor, teaching assistant, and graduate students enrolled in PSY 8502 that you are thinking about killing yourself or others, or you answer yes to a question about having thoughts about suicide or harming others, we will ask you more questions about these thoughts. Depending on how intense your thoughts are or how much you feel like hurting yourself/others, we may provide you with referrals for treatment (e.g., University Counseling & Consulting Services), work with you to contact your personal physician, trusted family member, or therapist to discuss your thoughts of harming yourself/others; or work with you on a plan that may include getting you to a hospital for safety or contacting the local police to safeguard others. Meetings will be video recorded so that the graduate student can later review the session with their lab supervisor and instructor. The purpose of the video recording is to evaluate the student’s performance of their assessment skills, not to evaluate you or your issues. Only the student and their instructor and supervisor will have access to the video recording. Confidentiality also applies to all video recording and recordings will be erased at the conclusion of the semester. Total participation time is up to 5 hours. Participants will receive 1 REP point for each 30 minutes of participation to be added to their total points earned in psychology courses offering REP points. Your participation is completely voluntary. You will receive your agreed upon REP points for your participation. Should you change your mind about your participation, you may stop participating at any time without any penalty or loss of your REP points. Please contact Alicia Bouyack via email (selve030@umn.edu) if you are interested in participating in this REP opportunity.

Delivery Format:

Live (in-person or remote) and self-guided (online)

Maximum number of sessions:

3

Maximum Time Commitment:

300 minutes

Maximum REP Point Award:

10

Requirements:

• 18 and over