Redesigning a psychological counseling course: issues and guidelines

Though the adequacy and relevancy of behavioral science education for family practice residents has been questioned, the existing literature offers only limited assistance for undertaking curriculum redesign. More specifically, there is no advice on how differences in teacher and learner perceptions of behavioral science can be used to develop goals, content, and teaching strategies in this area. This paper describes how a behavioral science course in psychological counseling was systematically redesigned, guided by six specific questions: (1) What are the instructor's assumptions about the subject matter? (2) How does the learner perceive course material? (3) What outcomes should be obtained? (4) What content matches desired outcomes? (5) What are the most suitable teaching strategies? (6) How can effectiveness of instruction be evaluated? Each question is outlined, and its application to the current course is discussed. Residents' self-assessments indicate knowledge gain in ability to articulate a counseling framework, to gather psychological information, and to intervene appropriately as a result of the course. The data reflect the need to expose residents to theoretical concepts as well as practical content when teaching counseling.