CPCE General Practice 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client discloses that they are planning to harm a specific individual. According to the duty to warn (Tarasoff ruling), what is the counselor's primary obligation?
- Maintain confidentiality and continue therapy
- Warn the identifiable potential victim and notify authorities (Correct answer)
- Immediately terminate the therapeutic relationship
- Consult with a supervisor and take no further action
Correct answer: Warn the identifiable potential victim and notify authorities
The Tarasoff ruling established that counselors have a duty to protect identifiable third parties from serious threats made by clients, which may include warning the intended victim and notifying law enforcement.
Question 2: Which theoretical framework emphasizes the client's subjective experience, self-concept, and inherent drive toward self-actualization?
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Psychoanalytic theory
- Person-centered therapy (Correct answer)
- Rational emotive behavior therapy
Correct answer: Person-centered therapy
Person-centered therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, places the client's subjective experience and self-actualization at the core of the therapeutic process.
Question 3: A counselor is working with a couple and discovers that one partner is secretly having an affair. How should the counselor handle this situation according to ethical guidelines?
- Immediately disclose the information to the other partner
- Refer the couple to another counselor without explanation
- Address it according to the informed consent and confidentiality policies established at the start of treatment (Correct answer)
- Terminate counseling with both partners immediately
Correct answer: Address it according to the informed consent and confidentiality policies established at the start of treatment
Ethical practice requires that policies about confidentiality in couples counseling be established in informed consent documents, and the counselor should follow those pre-established agreements.
Question 4: In motivational interviewing, the acronym OARS refers to which set of counseling skills?
- Observation, Assessment, Reflection, Summary
- Open questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summaries (Correct answer)
- Operant, Avoidance, Reinforcement, Shaping
- Outcome, Action, Resistance, Solution
Correct answer: Open questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summaries
OARS stands for Open questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, and Summaries — the core communication techniques used in motivational interviewing.
Question 5: Which type of validity refers to whether a test measures what it claims to measure as confirmed by experts in the field?
- Predictive validity
- Concurrent validity
- Content validity (Correct answer)
- Construct validity
Correct answer: Content validity
Content validity is established when subject matter experts confirm that a test's items adequately represent the domain being measured.
Question 6: A school counselor notices signs of possible child abuse in a student. The counselor's legal obligation is to:
- Consult with parents before making any report
- Report the suspicion to child protective services immediately (Correct answer)
- Gather more evidence before reporting
- Discuss the matter with the school principal and let them decide
Correct answer: Report the suspicion to child protective services immediately
Counselors are mandated reporters, legally required to report suspected child abuse to authorities immediately without needing to confirm the abuse or consult with others first.
Question 7: Which counseling approach uses a ABCDE model to help clients identify and challenge irrational beliefs?
- Dialectical behavior therapy
- Rational emotive behavior therapy (Correct answer)
- Solution-focused brief therapy
- Narrative therapy
Correct answer: Rational emotive behavior therapy
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), developed by Albert Ellis, uses the ABCDE model: Activating event, Belief, Consequence, Disputation, and Effect.
CPCE General Practice 2
A client discloses that they are planning to harm a specific individual.
According to the duty to warn (Tarasoff ruling), what is the counselor's primary obligation?