THE INSERVICE TRAINING PROGRAMS WERE EVALUATED BY THE FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION AT LOMPOC, CALIFORNIA AND EMPHASIZED THE REHABILITATIVE FUNCTIONS OF CORRECTIONAL STAFF. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM INCLUDED INCREASED USE OF VERBAL AND NONVERBAL REINFORCEMENTS BY STAFF DURING INMATE INTERVIEWS, INCREASED SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS PERTINENT TO COUNSELING, CORRECT USE OF THE SPECIFIC PROCESS STEPS INVOLVED IN BEHAVIORAL COUNSELING, AND REDUCTION OF OVERT ANXIETY BEHAVIORS EMITTED BY STAFF DURING COUNSELING INTERVIEWS. THE 1-DAY SESSIONS UTILIZED A BEHAVIORAL COUNSELING TRAINING PACKAGE CONSISTING OF LECTURE AND DISCUSSION MATERIALS PLUS SMALL GROUP ROLE-PLAYING. TO EVALUATE THE EFFICACY OF VARIOUS METHODS OF TRAINING, 17 VOLUNTEERS FROM A FEDERAL PRISON CORRECTIONAL STAFF WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO EITHER VIDEOTAPED OR LIVE SESSIONS. THE VIDEOTAPE GROUP WERE TRAINED 3 MONTHS LATER AND INITIALLY SERVED AS NO-TREATMENT CONTROLS. FOLLOWING EITHER LIVE OR VIDEOTAPED PRESENTATION GROUP MEMBERS WERE ASSIGNED TO TRIADS IN WHICH EACH MEMBER REHEARSED CLIENT, COUNSELOR, AND OBSERVER ROLES. THE OBSERVER ROLE INVOLVED RATING PARTICIPANT COMPETENCY OF SPECIFIC COUNSELING SKILLS. TO ASSESS KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL ACQUISITION, TRAINEES' BEHAVIORS DURING A COUNSELING SESSION WITH AN INMATE COACHED TO ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS AND TO SIMULATE SUCH BEHAVIORS AS HOSTILITY OR SHYNESS WERE VIDEOTAPED AND EVALUATED INDEPENDENTLY BY TWO TRAINED RATERS. INTERRATER RELIABILITY WAS EXTREMELY HIGH. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT, COMPARED TO THE NO-TREATMENT CONTROLS, LIVE PRESENTATION TRAINEES SHOWED SIGNIFICANTLY MORE KNOWLEDGE ON AN OBJECTIVE TEST OF THEORY AND PRACTICE, CORRECTLY EMPLOYED MORE OF THE COUNSELING PROCESS STEPS, USED MORE REINFORCEMENTS, AND DEMONSTRATED BETTER OVERALL COUNSELING SKILLS. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GROUPS WAS FOUND IN THE FREQUENCY OF OVERT ANXIETY BEHAVIORS. ALTHOUGH COMPLETE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS COULD NOT BE MADE FOR THE LIVE VERSUS VIDEOTAPE COMPARISON, A COMPARISON OF GROUP MEANS DEMONSTRATED THAT BOTH METHODS WERE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE FOR FOUR OF THE FIVE VARIABLES. THE LIVE GROUP OUTPERFORMED THE VIDEOTAPE GROUP ONLY FOR THE NUMBER OF CORRECTLY USED COUNSELING PROCESS STEPS. REFERENCES AND NOTES ARE INCLUDED.