Reactions of Beginning Counselors to Situations Involving Death and Dying

81 beginning counsellors rated their degree of comfort in 15 hypothetical counselling scenarios, 5 of which involved death or loss & 10 of which concerned other problems. Situations involving AIDS, other terminal illnesses, threats of suicide & bereavement were rated as more distressing than other scenarios. However, data failed to link counsellors’ discomfort with death situations to their personal level of death threat, or to their general level of experience as a counselor. (13 refs.)