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This article describes the development and psychometric properties of scores from the 43-item School Counselor Self-Efficacy (SCSE) Scale. Self-efficacy, according to social cognitive theory, is a mediating factor in performance. Practicing school counselors and master s-level students completed the SCSE. Factor structure, construct validity, and internal consistency are reported.
Self-efficacy has been shown to be an important aspect of successful teaching, counseling, and coping with change (Bandura, 1995; Larson & Daniels, 1998). Self-efficacy assessment has been a helpful addition to literature linking personal attributes with career performance. Currently, no self-efficacy scale exists that has been validated for use in the profession of school counseling. The knowledge base and research are scarce regarding how self-efficacy affects professional school counselors both in their training and in their performance. The purpose of this article is to describe the development of a psychometrically sound instrument constructed to evaluate school counselors' self-efficacy.
According to Bandura's (1986, 1995) social cognitive theory, self-efficacy is an important aspect of career performance and preparation. Self-efficacy, defined as beliefs about one's own ability to successfully perform a given behavior, involves "a generative capability in which component cognitive, social, and behavioral skills must be organized into integrated courses of action to serve innumerable purposes" (Bandura, 1986, p. 122). Selfefficacy is a mediating function of behavior. Self-efficacy beliefs influence how people think, feel, motivate themselves, and act. Those with strong self-efficacy beliefs set higher goals for themselves and exhibit stronger commitment, motivation, perseverance, and resiliency toward achieving those goals (Bandura, 1986, 1995). In addition, a positive relationship has been demonstrated between self-efficacy and work adjustment, job satisfaction, and stress reduction (Lent & Hackett, 1987). In a study of teacher self-efficacy (Bandura, 1995), students of teachers who had a high sense of teaching self-efficacy exhibited more successful academic achievement than students with the same entering ability assigned to teachers with a lower sense of teaching self-efficacy.
Currently, the most widely used counseling self-efficacy scales are specific to individual counseling (Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory [COSE]; Larson et al., 1992) and career counseling (Career Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale [CCSES]; O'Brien, Heppner, Flores, & Bikos, 1997). There is some evidence that counseling self-efficacy is positively related to performance as rated by supervisors, although the correlation is minimal and has been documented only...