Open Access

In the current manuscript, we investigate the collaboration (coproduction) in counseling sessions by means of an online-survey, in which 30 counseling practitioners took part. On the one hand, we focus on the different phases of a counseling process and survey in which phase the practitioners perceive the effort of the counselor or the client as higher. Secondly, we ask which type of input is expected from the two persons involved in a counseling session (i.e., structuring the session or coming up with impulses and ideas). Contrary to our predictions, in none of the phases the effort of the client is perceived as signifi-cantly higher than the effort of the counselor. Focusing on the role of the coun-selor, it is noteworthy that counselors perceive only surprisingly low levels of responsibility for stabilizing the counseling results and for prophylaxis. Con-cerning the type of input to a counseling session, structuring the session as well as providing impulses/ideas is predominantly seen as the counselor’s duty. From this study, it remains unclear what kind of input is expected from the client. We suggest that future research could study coproduction from the perspective of different schools of counseling separately.

Does intellectual giftedness pave the way towards satisfaction and success or is it rather a source of self-insecurity and further problems? The current Germany-wide quantitative online survey, in which 862 intellectual gifted adults (age 18+) with a minimum IQ of 130 points participated, focuses on the overall satisfaction in diverse categories, such as profession, social environment and family. Hereby, this comparative study differentiates between early- and late-diagnosed intellectually gifted people. Based on four hypotheses it is investigated how an early- or late diagnosis of intellectual giftedness impacts overall satisfaction and occupational satisfaction and to what extent all participants expressed a need for professional support. The study finds, that individuals who learned about their giftedness only in adulthood and who were surprised about this finding showed diminished self-satisfaction as compared to other highly gifted individuals. Furthermore, the study revealed that the majority of the intellectually gifted participants expressed a need for qualified professional counsel-ling, hereby reinforcing the notion that social workers should be trained to work with this specific group of people. In conclusion, this study contributes to a potential debate about support for highly gifted individuals provided by social work and other counselling professions.