Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Experience Of Established Mental Health Counselors Working With Adults Who Have Intellectual Disabilities, Margarete Denk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals with disabilities make up the largest minority population in the United States. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) make up a significant portion of this population, yet there are limited studies addressing counseling with the I/DD population. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs has addressed the need for disability competence in their upcoming 2024 standards. The purpose of the phenomenological study was to describe lived experiences of established counselors working with adult clients diagnosed with an I/DD. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used along with the social model of disability. The study involved six …

Experience Of Established Mental Health Counselors Working With Adults Who Have Intellectual Disabilities, Margarete Denk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals with disabilities make up the largest minority population in the United States. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) make up a significant portion of this population, yet there are limited studies addressing counseling with the I/DD population. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs has addressed the need for disability competence in their upcoming 2024 standards. The purpose of the phenomenological study was to describe lived experiences of established counselors working with adult clients diagnosed with an I/DD. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used along with the social model of disability. The study involved six …

Faculty-Student And Student-Student Connections Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic, Fatma Ouled Salem

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic expedited the shift toward distance education by forcing institutions to adapt to the limitations of social distancing mandates. This resulted in a general sense of disconnection and isolation, compounding the other adverse effects of the pandemic. Since faculty-student and student-student connections are consistently identified as best practices in distance counselor education, the aim of this descriptive phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of counselor educators during the COVID-19 pandemic relating to faculty-student and student-student connections. A phenomenological framework was used to suspend presuppositions of the phenomenon and to describe the lived experiences of participants. In-depth …

Exploratory Study Of Practicum Counselor Strategies Of Connection And Disconnection, Ashley S. Roberts

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There is an urge within professional counseling to provide socially just and multiculturally competent care. Relational Culture Theory (RCT) aligns with these goal as included its core components is theory about how people develop in stratified cultural contexts. Although there is increasing empirical support for RCT, there is a gap in understanding of how professional counselors implement RCT strategies of connection and disconnection. Therefore, the researcher in this study implemented instrumental case study design and directed content analysis to understand practicum counselor responses to clients. Findings of this study are applied to clinical practice, counseling education, and supervision.

Perceptions Of Family-Of-Origin Belief Systems Among Cisgender Men In Outpatient Treatment For Sexual Offending: A Phenomenological Investigation, Jessie K. Huebner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Sexual offending is a public concern and results in lasting detrimental effects. To prevent sexual offending, it is important to identify potential factors that increase an individual’s vulnerability to engage in sexual offending behaviors. Researchers have identified a general connection between early life experiences, specifically family-of-origin experiences, and later sexual offending behaviors. There is also an established agreement on the transmission of thoughts and beliefs present within a family unit on the development of thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors for a child as they age and into adulthood. Among individuals who offend sexually, implicit theories, the underlying beliefs that began …

Laughter As A Priming Agent For Change, Linnea M. Heintz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze the importance of laughter as a factor in influencing employee job satisfaction ratings. The Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985, 1997) and pulses of laughter were used in this study. To explore the relationship between laughter and job satisfaction, results of the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1994) were collected quarterly (four times a year) for three consecutive years, beginning six months prior to the start of the two-year study and six months post. The study sample was composed of 545 employees (34% male, 66% female) operating out of 10 employee-owned retail chain locations …

Factors Predicting Counselor Education And Supervision Doctoral Student Career Choices, Lisa Corbin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the increased need for counselor educators, less than half of graduates of counselor education and supervision (CES) programs enter into faculty positions after graduation. There is also a significant lack of diversity among counselor educators. Some researchers found that the quality of a mentoring relationship influences the mentee’s self-efficacy and career choice. The purpose of this quantitative survey research study was to explore the perceived quality of the participant’s mentoring relationship as measured by the Mentorship in Clinical Training Scale (MiCTS) and whether that score predicted the participant’s career choice or a change in career choice, investigate whether students’ …

Medical Cannabis And Counselor Education: Examining The Relationship Between Counselor Education Curriculum And The Incorporation Of Medical Cannabis, Anne Catherine Adrian

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The focus of this study was to examine the status of medical cannabis instruction in counselor education curriculum programs. There is evidence to indicate that medical cannabis use may be beneficial in mental health care. However, there is limited research on medical cannabis in counselor education. The following research questions provided a framework of investigation for this study: What is the status of the inclusion of medical cannabis content in counselor education curriculum programs and what are the plans to incorporate this content in the future?

In this study, a non-experimental design was used to describe or examine associations between …

To Be (A Doctor) Or Not To Be – An Exploration Of The Abd Experience Of Female Minority Doctoral Students In Cacrep-Accredited Counselor Education Programs, Tracey Kim Snow

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This is a dissertation that focuses on the lived experiences of culturally diverse female counselor education candidates on their dissertation experience. Chapter 1 addressed the background of the issue and the need for such a study. It also addresses the research questions that drove the study. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive literature review of the main topics. Literature and research on six areas form this study’s conceptual framework: (a) “All but Dissertation” (ABD) status, (b) persistence, (c) the historical context of social justice within counselor education and supervision, (d) women’s development, (e) female doctoral students, and (f) culturally diverse doctoral …

Providing Counseling In A Rural Setting: A New Multicultural Perspective, Danessa Ann Carter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Counseling research shows a lack of information regarding training counselors to work in rural communities. However, more than 80% of the United States land is considered rural. This appears to be an extremely desperate combination of lack of information and training for a large portion of the country’s population. An additional complication to this dynamic is that neither CACREP standards nor the ACA Code of Ethics mandate any specific trainings or address any specific needs of rural communities.

To improve the understanding of rural community dynamics, this qualitative study explored the phenomenological experiences of counselors working in rural communities. This …

Examination Of The Relationship Between Classism And Career Agency, Lucy Charlene Parker

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Classism is a recently studied, but historically existent form of oppression. Classism may involve students feeling that they cannot pursue a degree or career due to discrimination related to their social class status. This study explored the relationship between classism, gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, and career agency through survey design research. Career agency is the primary dependent variable in this study. Career agency includes career choice, career forethought, and career related actions related. Psychometrically established instruments including The Experiences With Perceived Classism Scale-Short Form and The Career Futures Inventory-Revised were used to assess classism and career agency. Using this …

Measuring Self-Perceived Clinical Preparedness With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Clients, Kimerly D. Patterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counselors and counselor educators must serve clients regardless of culture, race, disability, sexual orientation, and age. Counselor educators have attempted to stay abreast of new methods to enhance counselor competencies to adequately counsel lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the extent of the relationship between self-perceived clinical preparedness of working with LGBT clients and self-perceived attitudinal awareness towards LGBT clients as moderated by levels of religious commitment of licensed professional counselor (LPC) using a feminist and multicultural theory framework. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) quantitative analysis software program …

Experience Of Nontenured, Tenure-Track Faculty And Gatekeeping: A Qualitative Research Study, Meghan Butler

Dissertations (1934 -)

Using a consensual qualitative research (CQR) approach, this study investigated the experience of nontenured, tenure track faculty (NTTTF) members involved in gatekeeping with students for non-academic concerns from American Psychological Association (APA)- and The Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)-accredited programs. The study investigated the emotional and cognitive reactions, factors supportive/facilitative and discouraging/hindering of the decision to intervene, the impact the gatekeeping process had on NTTTF relationships and what the NTTTF learned from the gatekeeping intervention. Participants were five female faculty members. Results indicated participants had little to no training in gatekeeping beyond informal training …

Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv) Counselor Education: Exploring Opinions, Knowledge And Perceived Preparedness To Counsel Ipv Clients, Alvis Talata Ayaba-Apawu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Intimate partner violence has both physical and psychological effects and its monetary cost on the economy is enormous. IPV affects large number of people regardless of their religious affiliations, gender, sexual preference, or nationality. Because counselors are most likely to counsel IPV clients due to the high prevalence of partner violence, in depth knowledge of IPV is required to effectively handle IPV cases. Existing literature shows that novice counselors feel inadequate and experience difficulties in counseling IPV clients. To understand the challenges associated with counseling IPV clients, the current research study explores the opinions, knowledge, and perceived preparedness of counseling …

The Lived Experiences Of Counselor Educators Using Mindful Teaching Approaches, Abby E. Dougherty

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that mindful teaching approaches support students and educators throughout the learning process. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of counselor educators with a daily mindfulness practice in the classroom with culturally diverse students. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) was the conceptual framework. Relational cultural theory concepts of relational connections and disconnections were used to explore the participants' lived experiences implementing a mindful teaching approach. Purposeful sampling yielded 10 participants who participated in semi-structured interviews. Using an inductive approach, the data were analyzed to identify essential themes. Thematic analysis was conducted by hand …