Chapter 7
Competence, Assessment, and Diagnosis
Answer Key
1. Counselor competency can be assured if:
a. a counselor is licensed by his or her state licensure board.
b. a counselor has graduated from a CACREP-accredited master’s degree program.
c. a counselor is a National Certified Counselor (NCC).
d. a counselor has earned a master’s degree in counseling from a regionally-accredited
university.
e. there is no way to assure counselor competency.
2. Which of the following statements regarding counselor competence is FALSE?
a. once counselors have become licensed, the burden of ensuring competent services
falls on the counselors themselves.
b. competence in counseling is difficult to define.
c. there is a continuum of professional expertise with gross negligence at one end and
maximum effectiveness at the other extreme.
d. licensure ensures that practitioners are competent to do what their licenses permit
them to do.
e. counselors are ethically required to counsel only within the boundaries of their
competence.
3. Graduate degree programs in counseling attempt to ensure their graduates are competent
counselors by doing all of the following EXCEPT:
a. selecting and admitting individuals who are likely to succeed at developing the skills,
knowledge, and characteristics needed to become effective counselors.
b. using personal interviews, written essays, or other subjective criteria in selecting
candidates for admission.
c. providing a curriculum for master’s students that prepares students to be effective
counselors.
d. eliminating from graduate programs any students who have their own emotional
issues.
e. requiring successful supervised experience as a part of the graduate program.
4. Registration is the form of state regulation of a profession that:
a. is the most rigorous form of regulation, in that only those who are registered may
practice the profession in a state.
b. protects a title, such as “Professional Counselor,” but anyone can practice the
profession without being registered.
c. requires members of a profession to sign up with the government if they practice the
profession in the state, but anyone may sign the registry without a review of their
credentials.
d. grants a state credential if a person has a national certification.
e. is issued by a state agency, but never by an independent state board.
5. Legislators agree to license a professional group, such as counselors, only when it can be
shown that:
a. other professional groups that are already licensed do not oppose the licensing of this
new group.
b. the public cannot determine which practitioners are competent, and they might be
harmed by incompetent members of that profession.
c. the public cannot determine which practitioners are competent, and the services the
professional group provides require extensive education.
d. the rates for services of the professional group will go down if they are licensed.
e. the professional group needs to be licensed in order to gain the recognition it needs to
be recognized as a legitimate profession in society.
6. An argument AGAINST licensing specialties within the counseling profession (such as
marriage and family counselors, rehabilitation counselors, career counselors, etc.) is:
a. it would confuse the public.
b. it would be very expensive for counselors to get multiple licenses instead of just one.
c. other professions—such as medicine and law—license professionals to practice their
profession generally, and those who are licensed decide which areas they are
competent to practice in.
d. counselors who practice in various specialty areas are so different from each other
that each specialty within counseling is like a separate and distinct profession.
e. the public should be counseled only by individuals who are specialists within the
counseling profession and they will be harmed if they are counseled by counselors
who have not proven their specialty expertise.
7. Key points with respect to diagnosis include all of the following EXCEPT:
a. clients should not be told the diagnosis that has been assigned to them.
b. counselors must be alert to sources of bias against women and minority group members
in the diagnostic process.
c. counselors should cooperate with physicians when clients may have a physical
condition that is contributing to their mental or emotional problems or when they could
benefit from taking medications for their condition.
d. multicultural considerations are of paramount importance in diagnosis because all
mental disorders occur in and are defined by a cultural context.
e. counselors are guilty of insurance fraud when they do not diagnosis honestly and
accurately and they can be subject to both civil and criminal liability.
8. Distressed counselors or counselors suffering from burnout are terms used to refer to:
a. incompetent counselors.
b. counselors who have committed malpractice.
c. counselors who have had their licenses revoked.
d. impaired counselors.
e. counselors who have recently been fired from their jobs.
9. The primary purpose of diagnosis is to:
a. label clients.
b. facilitate effective treatment.
c. help clients gain future employment.
d. obtain insurance reimbursement.
e. show that a particular client has a verifiable mental disorder.
10. When a counselor determines that a client may be at risk for harming self or others, the
counselor must ALWAYS:
a. call the police.
b. take the steps necessary to prevent harm.
c. call an ambulance to take the client to the hospital emergency room.
d. notify individuals with whom the client lives.
e. notify the parents of the client.
11. Studies regarding cultural bias in diagnosis have shown that:
a. because most clients in counseling are women, diagnosis tends to be less accurate for
male clients than for female client.
b. African American clients are more likely to be diagnosed with severe mental illnesses
such as schizophrenia.
c. Hispanic clients are less likely to be diagnosed with depressive disorders.
d. counselors, compared to other mental health professionals, are less likely to allow
gender stereotypes to influence their diagnoses.
e. female clients are less likely to be prescribed psychotropic medications.
12. The standard used to determine whether a particular counselor is qualified to administer
and interpret a particular test:
a. has been developed by the American Psychological Association (APA).
b. is so broad that any professional can administer and interpret any test.
c. is established by each state, by the state licensure board for psychologists.
d. is not absolute and, thus, each counselor must make that determination for
himself/herself.
e. is based on a formula that includes graduate courses taken, number of previous
administrations of that particular test, and the amount of supervised experience giving
that particular test.
13. Competence is most closely related to the moral principle of:
a. fiduciary relationships.
b. professionalism.
c. integrity.
d. do no harm.
e. autonomy.
14. The ACA Code of Ethics requires counselors to explain to clients, before testing
takes place, all of the following EXCEPT:
a. that clients may ask questions while they are taking the test if any items are confusing
to them.
b. the nature and purposes of the tests.
c. whether test results will be used as a screening tool for membership in a counseling
group.
d. what conditions produce the best test results.
e. that they will receive feedback about the test results.
15. With respect to what mental health professionals are qualified to diagnose using the DSM
system:
a. only psychologists and psychiatrists are qualified to utilize this system
b. counselors do not receive adequate training at the master’s degree level to be
qualified to use this system.
c. only psychiatrists should use the DSM system, because it is based on the medical
model.
d. managed health care companies will reimburse only psychiatrists for DSM diagnoses.
e. the DSM manual specifically includes counselors as users of the DSM system.
Answer Key
