Pearson NCE-ABE New Attempt

Within Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethical Practice, CACREP highlights the importance of counselors understanding impairment, burnout, and self-care—for themselves and in general occupational contexts.

Burnout is typically defined as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that results from chronic work-related or career-related stress, often accompanied by decreased sense of accomplishment and depersonalization.

Option D captures burnout as a phenomenon associated with career-related (occupational) stress, which is the broad, accurate description tested on the NCE.

Options A, B, and C each describe possible symptoms or correlates (hopelessness, confusion, fatigue, illness), but none by themselves constitute the definition of burnout. Burnout is best understood as a syndrome arising from prolonged job stress, making D the best answer.

In the Assessment and Testing core area, counselors must understand standard scores, including normalized scores with a specified mean and standard deviation (like 50,10).

Step 1: Compute the z-score.

Raw score = 56

Mean = 42

Standard deviation = 7

Compute the difference:

56 − 42 = 14

Compute z:

14 ÷ 7 = 2

So, z = 2.

Step 2: Convert the z-score to a standard score with mean = 50 and SD = 10.

Formula:

Standard score = (z × new SD) + new mean

Compute:

z × new SD = 2 × 10 = 20

20 + 50 = 70

So the f-score (50,10) is 70, which corresponds to Option D.

In Human Growth and Development, especially in Adlerian and psychodynamic theory content, counselors learn that:

Compensation is a coping mechanism in which a person attempts to counterbalance perceived weaknesses or feelings of inferiority by emphasizing strengths in other areas.This directly matches the description of coping with feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, so A is correct.

The other terms reflect different mechanisms:

Displacement (B): redirecting emotions from a threatening target to a safer one.

Reaction formation (C): expressing the opposite of one’s true feelings.

Regression (D): reverting to earlier, more childlike behaviors under stress.

Therefore, the mechanism that best describes coping with feelings of inferiority is compensation.

The Social and Cultural Diversity core area requires counselors to:

Develop multicultural counseling competence,

Recognize their limitations and biases, and

Engage in ongoing professional development specifically in multicultural issues.

Ethical and training standards emphasize that when counselors recognize gaps in their cultural knowledge or skills, they should:

Seek supervision, consultation, or training to improve their competence with those populations.

Looking at the options:

A. Focus on global concepts and ideas.This can make counseling more abstract and may overlook specific cultural contexts and lived experiences.

B. Disclose any lack of knowledge or awareness to the client.Limited, thoughtful self-disclosure may sometimes be appropriate, but it is not, by itself, sufficient or the most helpful global strategy.

C. Seek supervision and training on multicultural issues.This aligns directly with CACREP’s expectation of ongoing multicultural competence development and is the best answer.

D. Work to assimilate clients who are culturally dissimilar.This is contrary to multicultural principles; counselors should honor and respect clients’ cultural identities, not pressure them to assimilate.

Therefore, the most appropriate and CACREP-consistent action is C (seek supervision and training on multicultural issues).