Participant and symbolic modeling and the self-efficacy of Israeli “Street-Corner” youth counselors

A training program for youth advancement counselors, aimed to improve counselors* self-efficacy and their ability to cope effectively with stressful situations, was developed and implemented. Two versions of the training program were evaluated: a participant modeling workshop, and a symbolic modeling workshop. The findings of the study show that both training methods positively affected the self-efficacy as compared to the contrast group. As predicted, the self-efficacy of subjects of the participant modeling group significantly increased compared to the self-efficacy of subjects of the symbolic modeling or the contrast groups.