Dyadic Agreement Concerning the Consultation Process and Its Relationship to Outcome

Abstract

This article reports the first study from the School Consultation Research Project, a cooperative group of school psychologists from four universities interested in exploring relationships among processes and outcomes in consultation. Using an interpersonal perspective, statistical relationships between 12 dyadic process variables and 4 consultation outcome variables were examined. The central hypothesis was that the more that consultant and consultee see the process in a similar way, understand their roles, and work together as a team, the more favorable are consultee perceptions of (a) the beneficialness of consultation, (b) consultee competence, (c) client improvement, and (d) consultant effectiveness. Data were collected from 61 consultant-consultee dyads situated in four locations in the northeastern, southeastern, and southwestern U.S. Results supported the hypothesis as well as the value of assuming an interpersonal perspective in future consultation research.