STUDY GUIDE FOR THE 8 CORE CONTENT AREAS COVERED BY THE COUNSELOR PREPARATION COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION (CPCE)

1. HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

PSYC 8250: Developmental Psychology:

Nature-nurture controversy; Cognitive development theories; Language development theories;

Personality development theories; Moral development theories

PSYC 5400: Abnormal Psychology:

Psychopharmacology; DSM multiaxial assessment system; Disorders of infancy, childhood, or adolescence; Cognitive disorders; Substance related disorders; Psychotic disorders; Mood disorders; Anxiety disorders; Somataform and dissociative disorders; Sexual and gender identity disorders; Eating disorders; Impulse control disorders; Adjustment disorders; Personality disorders; V codes

PSYC 7020: Conditions of Learning

Classical conditioning; Operant Conditioning; Cognitive learning theories; Memory and forgetting

2. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS

SCHC 7470: Counseling Culturally Diverse Populations:

Specific racial/cultural groups (Native-Americans or American Indians, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans)

Elderly clients; Clients with disabilities; Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clients; Clients with HIV or AIDS; Gender issues in counseling; Barriers to Cross-Cultural and Cross-Class Counseling; Research on Racism in Counseling, Research on Classism in Counseling; Cultural Values

Substance Abuse and Dependence (possibly covered in SCHC 7010, SCHC 7420)

Definitions of drug abuse; Description of the addict; Etiology of drug abuse; Treatment of drug abuse; Commonly abused drugs; Family therapy for treating drug abuse

3. THE HELPING RELATIONSHIP

SCHC 7400: Counseling Theory and Practice:

Psychodynamic theories; Cognitive theories; Behavioral theories; Humanistic theories

Psychodynamic family therapy; Communication/interaction family therapy; Extended family systems therapy; Structural family therapy; Strategic family therapy

SCHC 7900: Prepracticum

Counseling and interviewing (micro)skills, basic counseling techniques; advanced counseling techniques, stages of counseling, case conceptualization

SCHC 7830: Consultation and Advocacy

Consultation process; models of consultation (mental health or psychodynamic models, behavioral or educational models, systems or process models)

Crisis Intervention and Family Violence (possibly covered in SCHC 7010, SCHC 7420)

Legal and ethical issues in crisis intervention; Suicide assessment; Dangerousness assessment;

Victims of spouse abuse; Victims of child physical abuse; Victims of incest; Victims of rape;

Characteristics of the abused child; Characteristics of the abusive parent; Characteristics of the child abusing family; Sexual abuse and incest; Cycle of spousal abuse; Characteristics of batterers and battered women; Barriers to the treatment of spouse abuse

4. GROUP WORK

SCHC 7450: Group Counseling:

Group development; Group leader's role and responsibilities; Group intervention techniques and processes; Group theories

Types of groups in organizations; Structure of groups in organizations; Effects of groups on group members; Group cohesion; Group decision making and problem solving; Group communication structures; Group conflict; Organizational development

5. LIFESTYLE AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT

SCHC 7820: Career Counseling

Assessment

Intelligence tests; Specific abilities and aptitude tests; Personality tests; Interest tests; Career maturity and work values assessment

Lifestyle and Career Development

Theories of career development; Models of career decision-making; Career placement; Career Education; Career life planning; Information systems; Approaches to career counseling; Career counseling with special populations

6. APPRAISAL

PSYC 7030: Measurement and Evaluation

Role of testing; Behavioral observation; Educational and interest assessment; Test construction;

Reliability; Validity; Interpretation of test scores

7. RESEARCH AND EVALUATION

RSCH 7100: Research Methodology:

Sampling; Research strategies; Experimental Variance; Extraneous variance; Error variance; Internal validity; External validity; Group designs; Single-subject designs; Descriptive statistics;

Inferential statistics; Hypothesis testing; Statistical tests; Correlation techniques; Computer analysis; Evaluation research

8. PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION

SCHC 7800: Orientation to Counseling:

History of the helping profession; Professional roles and functions; Professional Organizations;

Professional credentialing

Legal and Ethical Standards (possibly covered in LEAD7210)

Development of ethical codes; Rationale for ethical codes; Ethics and the law; Confidentiality; Competence; Continuing education; Client's welfare and rights; Guidelines for responding to ethical questions; Standards for professional practice