Intentional Interviewing and Counseling: Facilitating Client Development in a Multicultural Society 9th Edition Allen E Ivey Mary Bradford Ivey Carlos P Zalaquett Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Chapter Questions: Opening Communication Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Chapter Goals and Competency Objectives (slide of 2) Awareness and Knowledge ▲ Understand the two key styles of questioning: open and closed questions ▲ Choose the question stem and style that are most likely to achieve a useful anticipated result that clarifies the client’s story For example, what questions often lead to talk about facts, how questions to feelings or process, and why questions to reasons Could/would questions tend to be the most open Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Chapter Goals and Competency Objectives (slide of 2) Skills and Action ▲ Draw out and enrich client stories by bringing out a more complete description, including background information and needed details ▲ Open or close client talk, intentionally, according to the individual needs of the client ▲ Balance discussion of clients’ concerns in a more positive way using the positive asset search, strength emphasis, positive psychology, and wellness ▲ Use questions in a culturally sensitive and respectful way Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Introduction: Questions (slide of 5) The Case of Benjamin Benjamin is in his junior year of high school, in the middle third of his class In this school, each student must be interviewed about plans after graduation—work, the armed forces, or college You are the high school counselor and have called Benjamin in to check on his plans after graduation His grades are average He is not particularly verbal or talkative, but he is known as a “nice boy.” Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Introduction: Questions (slide of 5) The Value of Questions ▲ Systematic framework for directing the interview ▲ Open new areas for discussion ▲ Pinpoint and clarify issues ▲ Aid in self-exploration Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning AllAll Rights Reserved Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning Rights Reserved Introduction: Questions (slide of 5) Types of Questions ▲Open Can’t be answered in a few words Facilitate deeper exploration of client issues Typically begin with what, how, why, or could/would ▲Closed Enable you to obtain specifics and can be answered in a few words Often begin with is, are, or Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Introduction: Questions (slide of 5) Open Questions: Open questions often begin with who, what, when, where, or Anticipated Client Response: Clients provide more details and talk more in why Closed questions may start with do, is, or are Could, can, or would response to open questions Could, would, and can questions are often questions are considered open but have the advantage of being the most open of all, because they give clients the choice to respond somewhat closed, giving more power to the client, who can more easily briefly (“No, I can’t”) or, much more likely, explore their issues in an open say that he or she doesn’t want to respond fashion Closed Questions: Closed questions may start with do, is, or are Anticipated Client Response: Closed questions may elicit specific information but may close off client talk Effective questions encourage more focused client conversations with more pertinent detail and less wandering Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Introduction: Questions (slide of 5) ▲ Some theorists and many practitioners raise important issues around the use of questioning They maintain questions are best learned after expertise is developed in the reflective listening skills (Chapters and 7) Also, some students or trainees will like using questions so much that they will not give enough attention to critical listening skills ▲ Excessive use of questions takes the focus from the client and gives too much power to the interviewer Your central task in this chapter is to find your own balance in using questions in the interview Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲ Clients not always provide you with important information, and sometimes the only way to obtain it is by asking questions For example, the client may talk about being depressed and unable to act ▲ The client’s response to the open question “What important things are happening in your life right now or with your family?” might reveal that a separation or divorce is about to occur, that a job has been lost, or that some other important issue underlies the client’s depression ▲ Your original assessment of the client’s condition as classical clinical depression may be modified by what is occurring in the client’s life, and treatment may take a different direction Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲ With verbal clients and a comfortable relationship, the open question facilitates free discussion and leaves plenty of room to talk Examples “What would you like to talk about today?” “Could you tell me what prompted you to see me?” “How have things been since we last talked?” ▲ With a less talkative client, it may be best to start a session with informal conversation about weather or a current event of interest to the client Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) The first word of a question stem often, but not always, results in anticipated outcomes First Words Elicit WHAT? Facts and information (“What happened?”) WHY? Discussion of reasons (“Why is that meaningful to you?”) HOW? Exploration of process or feeling emotion (“How could that be explained?”) COULD? CAN? General framing or summary (“Could you tell me more about your situation?”; “Would you give me a specific example?”; “Can you tell me what you’d like to talk about today?”) WOULD? Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲To help the session start again and keep it moving, ask an open question on a topic the client presented earlier in the session “Could you tell me more about that?” “How did you feel when that happened?” “Given what you’ve said, what would be your ideal solution?” “What might we have missed so far?” “What else comes to your mind?” Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results of 9) ▲Empathy requires that you understand specifically what your client is saying ▲Concreteness is key in empathic understanding ▲Seek specifics and avoid vague generalities ▲Counselors and therapists are interested in specific feelings, thoughts, and examples of actions Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved (slide Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲Examples of open questions that aim for concreteness and specifics might be “Could you give me a specific example of ?” “What you mean by ?” ▲Communication from the counselor needs to be concrete and easy for the client to understand Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲ Positive regard and respect for the client are essential for future growth This is illustrated in neuroscience research Memories are stored in many sections of the brain Negative emotions and feelings originate primarily in the amygdala, deep in the limbic system of the brain Positive emotions are located in many areas, but the nearby nucleus accumbens sends out signals to the prefrontal cortex, enabling focus on the positive Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲Bombardment/grilling Too many questions may give too much control to the interviewer and may put clients on the defensive ▲Multiple questions Another form of bombardment, throwing out too many questions at once, may confuse clients However, it may enable clients to select which question they prefer to answer Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results (slide of 9) ▲ Questions as statements Some interviewers may use questions as a way to sell their own points of view If you are going to make a statement, not frame it as a question “Don’t you think it would be helpful if you studied more?” vs “What occurs to you as you think about improving your grades?” ▲ Why questions can put interviewees on the defensive and cause discomfort Any question that evokes a sense of being attacked can cause discomfort and defensiveness Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Observe: Questions in the Interview ▲ What you think of the meeting between Jamila and Kelly? ▲ What did you learn about the use of open and closed questions? ▲ Was Jamila putting ideas into Kelly’s mind? ▲ What is the effect of using why, how, and could questions? Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Multiple Applications of Questions (slide of 4) ▲ The antecedent-behavior-consequence-thoughts-emotions (ABC-TE) framework provides a comprehensive picture of the client’s experience Antecedent: Draw out the linear sequence of the story Behavior: Focus on observable concrete actions Consequence: Help the client see the result of an event Thoughts: Relating to thoughts and cognitions (prefrontal cortex TAP executive system) Emotions: Relating to emotional regulation involving the limbic system and hormonal impact on the brain and body Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Multiple Applications of Questions (slide of 4) ▲Questions place power with the interviewer ▲Questions from culturally different interviewers may be met with distrust, and only grudging answers may be given ▲Asking too many questions too quickly may promote distrust “Rapid-fire” questions may be perceived as grilling ▲Questions used insensitively can destroy trust ▲Honor cultural differences Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Multiple Applications of Questions (slide of 4) ▲ Build Trust at the Client’s Pace A central issue with hesitant clients is trust Trust building and rapport need to come first, and your own natural openness and social skills are essential ▲ Search for Concrete Specifics If your client is talking in very general terms and is hard to understand, it often helps to ask questions from the antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) pattern Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Multiple Applications of Questions (slide of 4) ▲Children may require considerable help from the interviewer before they are willing to share at all ▲It helps children talk if they have something to with their hands, such as drawing, playing with small toys, or playing with a house that includes child and adult figures ▲Many open questions are too broad for children to understand Phrase ABC questions empathically and carefully Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Action: Key Points and Practice of Questions ▲ Act ▲ Value of Questions ▲ Open Questions ▲ Closed Questions ▲ “What Else?” Questions ▲ Promoting Client Elaboration ▲ The Negative Approach ▲ The Positive Approach ▲ Multiple Applications of Questions ▲ Multicultural Issues Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved .. .Chapter Questions: Opening Communication Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning All Rights Reserved Chapter Goals and Competency Objectives (slide of 2) Awareness and Knowledge ▲ Understand the... Knowledge, and Skills: Questions for Results of 9) ▲Empathy requires that you understand specifically what your client is saying ▲Concreteness is key in empathic understanding ▲Seek specifics and avoid... building and rapport need to come first, and your own natural openness and social skills are essential ▲ Search for Concrete Specifics If your client is talking in very general terms and is hard