College Peer Counselors’ Training:Building Of The Training Model

These years, peer counseling is widely applied in mental health education in colleges, because of its convenient implementation, rapid effects, easy promotion and so on. In order to effectively promote peer counseling, many intestine and overseas researchers have studied about the model of peer counseling, selection, training, management and evaluation of peer counselor and so on. At the same time, some researchers concentrate on the competency theory which developed from the Human Resource Management theory. Some researches have indicated that competency could distinguish excellent performers from ordinary performers in one job. The competency model to develop training programs is used to evaluate the level of staffs’competency,and on this basis,find out the gap between the practical level and the ideal level,then design scheme to train, in order to improve staffs’ competence effectively.According to previous researches, this study attempts to use the competency theory in peer counselor training. The first study is the demand investigation about college peer counselors’competence training. According to the College Peer Counselors’Competency Questionnaire made by Yun Xia Li in her master’s thesis, this study investigated college peer counselors’competency level. It includes six dimensionalities:professional personality traits, achievement orientation, interpersonal communication and coordination, self growth traits, professional attitude and quality, knowledge and experience. Furthermore, the author used the College Peer Counselors’Demand Of Competency Training Questionnaire to investigate college peer counselors’subjective needs of competency training. In the second study, according to the results of the first study, the author tried to structure the mode of College Peer Counselors’Competency Training, and design different courses. In the third study, the author carried out the training, and then evaluated the effectiveness of the training, through experimentation, questionnaire surveys, and personal interviews.The results show that:(1) There is some space for college peer counselors to improve their levels of competency. The score of "Knowledge and Experience" is lower than others, so it should be improved through training.(2) College peer counselors have more subjective needs of training on three dimensionalities,"Interpersonal Communication and Coordination","Professional Attitude and Quality","Knowledge and Experience".(3) It is necessary and feasible to structure the mode of College Peer Counselors’ Competency Training.(4) After the training, compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significant improvement in scores of total Competency in five dimensionalities,"Achievement Orientation","Interpersonal Communication and Coordination","Self growth traits","Professional Attitude and Quality","Knowledge and Experience".(5) The results of the questionnaire surveys and interviews present that participants give positive evaluation about the training. It indicates that the training is approved and effective.