Sources of Consultation Efficacy in School Psychology Interns

Limited research is available regarding the development of consultation efficacy in school psychology interns. Consultation was identified as an essential skill in school psychology and a critical component of service delivery models in schools. Literature suggested that consultation efficacy, or self-perceptions of their competence as consultants, impacts the time school psychologists spend consulting. The current study examined the relationship between consultation efficacy development using the Consultation Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) near the conclusion of internship and sources of self-efficacy development (i.e., mastery experience, verbal persuasion, and vicarious experience). School psychology interns from across the United States (N = 116) completed an online survey to investigate self-appraisals of their exposure to consultation and sources of self-efficacy development to predict their consultation efficacy. Results indicated that pre-internship consultation fieldwork predicted interns’ pre-internship consultation efficacy. Of the self-efficacy sources assessed before internship, prior mastery, prior emotional arousal, and prior verbal persuasion were significant predictors of interns’ pre-internship consultation efficacy. Results of a series of sequential regressions indicated that both time interns spent consulting and their vicarious experience were significant predictors of interns’ post-internship consultation efficacy when controlling for the variance accounted for by interns’ pre-internship consultation efficacy. Overall, the results indicated that vicarious experience was the strongest, unique predictor of interns’ post-consultation efficacy while controlling for the variance accounted for by interns’ pre-internship consultation efficacy. An intern\u27s perceived similarity to his or her supervisor appeared to mediate the relationship between supervisor modeling and the intern\u27s post-consultation efficacy