Counseling Commons^™

Self-Compassion And Employment Issues Of Persons With Disabilities, Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Self-compassion……..What is it? Why is it of value? How does it relate to the employment needs of persons with disabilities? These are just a few of the questions people might have when they hear the term followed by having it associated with employment and persons with disabilities. For starters, self-compassion is not a topic that has been historically discussed openly, correctly understood, or promoted. Instead, the societal message when faced with difficult life events such as disability, unemployment, and lack of resources (i.e., access, education) has been one of “just man up and deal with it.” Self-compassion offers everyone, including …

Contextualizing Couples: Three Essays On Inequality, Stress, And Dyadic Functioning As A Longitudinal And Reciprocal Process, Deadric T. Williams

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, I use an integrated theoretical and conceptual model that consists of several theoretical frameworks to examine the following questions: (1) is there a longitudinal and reciprocal association between parental stress/distress and dyadic functioning? (2) does the association change over time? (3) does the association vary across social contexts (e.g., marital status, race/ethnicity, and poverty)? In order to explore these questions, I use longitudinal and dyadic data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, which follows a cohort of children and their parents from birth to five years of age. Through three separate analytic studies, the results …

Nunca Se Olvide Del Frío Del Mármol De Las Escaleras: Una Mirada A La Recuperación Del Ex Centro Clandestino De Detención Y Tortura De Virrey Cevallos / One Never Forgets The Cold Of The Marble Stairs: A Look At The Recuperation Of Ex Clandestine Center For Detention And Torture Of Virrey Cevallos, Jamie Gagliano

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

After the fall of a repressive government, there is often a discussion or an attempt to repair the damage done to society by the repressive regime. Argentina for the last thirty years has been facing this discussion. The last dictatorship, a totalitarian military dictatorship, in Argentina took place between 1976 and 1983. With the return of democracy at the end of 1983, the process of healing society began, albeit in a rather limited form due to fear of sparking the military into revolt once again. In the 1990s, the discussion was almost entirely swept under the rug by the Menem …

Becoming An Educator, Naveen Jonathan

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Presentations

Discusses employment options for Marriage & Family Therapists.

Living With A Disability: A Gateway To Practicing Forgiveness And Compassion, Susan Stuntzner, Jacquelyn Dalton

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forgiveness and compassion are two helpful approaches toward reducing the emotional, psychological, and spiritual anxiety brought about by negative and harmful experiences. Disability, forgiveness, and compassion are terms that may not be thought of in relation to one another, but here the authors introduce the idea that the experience of living with a disability can be an opportunity to practice forgiveness or compassion, whether directed toward one’s self or toward others. Forgiveness and compassion are similar yet unique practices that influence the emotional well-being. The experience of disability includes both the disabling life event (in the case of acquired disabilities) …

Climate Change Survey Measures: Exploring Perceived Bias And Question Interpretation, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Tonya K. Bernadt, Nicole Wall

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

Climate change has become an important yet politically divisive topic in recent years. Further complicating the issue are assertions that climate change– related public opinion surveys used by social scientists are biased or otherwise problematic. We conducted a pilot study to explore questions concerning bias and interpretation of climate change surveys. Our study sample was composed of adult residents of Nebraska (n = 115). We augmented our survey findings with cognitive interviews of a subsample of respondents (n = 20). We assessed study participants’ attitudes about climate change, and perceptions of bias and interpretation of survey questions drawn from previously …

Is There Anybody Out There? Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Distance Learning, Cheria Jackson, Jessica Stoler, Charles Jacob Phd, Gregory Roth Phd

Explorer Café

No abstract provided.

Altruism, Commitment, And Leadership In High School Mentors, Rob Mkinney, Heidi A. Larson, J. Adriane Moody, Margaret F. Schwartzkopf, Aaron D. Hale, Steven R. Conn

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

This study investigated the effects of mentoring on selected attributes among high school mentors. Three attributes were explored: altruism, commitment to school, and student leadership. Seventy-four high school juniors and seniors participated as mentors to high school freshmen students. Mentors participated in a leadership training program prior to beginning their mentoring activities. Pre- and post-test measures of the three attributes were administered. Results showed no significant increase in altruism or commitment scores. Unexpectedly, the mentoring experience produced a significant decrease in the perception of leadership scores. Implications for implementing a mentoring program in a high school setting are discussed.

The Relationship Of Socioeconomic Status And Counseling Outcomes, Lisa D. Hawley, Todd W. Leibert, Joel A. Lane

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examined the relationship between various indices of socioeconomic status (SES) and clinical outcomes among clients at a university counseling center. It also explored links between SES and three factors that are generally regarded as facilitative of client change in counseling: motivation, treatment expectancy, and social support. Regression analyses showed that, overall, SES predicted positive changes in symptom checklists over the course of treatment. Individual SES variables predicting positive change were educational attainment and whether or not the client had health insurance. SES was not associated with motivation, treatment expectancy, or social support. Implications for SES research and counseling …

Former Mentors' Perceptions Of The Faith-Based Approach To Reducing Recidivism Implemented By The Marinette-Menominee Jail Outreach, Inc., James Langteau

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, hermeneutic phenomenological study was to examine the impact of a faith-based approach to reduce recidivism. The theoretical frameworks guiding this study included the belief system and self-efficacy theories. Participants consisted of a convenience sample of 21 former mentors of the Marinette-Menominee Jail Outreach. The setting was a Christian non-profit organization serving the Marinette and Menominee County Jails located in rural northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Semistructured interviews, surveys, and a focus group provided data to illuminate common themes. Data analysis included highlighting significant statements from volunteer mentors who engaged offenders to effect …

Introduction To Sand Tray, Naveen Jonathan

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Presentations

Discusses play therapy, especially with sand, as an option for counseling children.

Counseling Emerging Adults In The Midst Of Life Transition: Applying Theory And Research To Practice, Joel A. Lane

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the past decade, research examining 18- to 29-year-olds has resulted in the recognition of emerging adulthood as being a distinct developmental stage. Changing societal conditions during the latter 20^th century have contributed to a prolonged identity exploration process that extends well into the twenties. This period encompasses both increased autonomy compared to adolescence and also a moratorium from adult responsibilities, resulting in a subjective feeling of being ‘in-between’.

Converging with these changes are the many life transitions that are experienced during emerging adulthood. It is common for an emerging adult to graduate high school, leave home, enter college …

Time Travel With Gilles Deleuze, John M. Winslade

Special Education, Rehabilitation & Counseling Faculty Publications

My focus here will be on working in therapy with an elastic concept of time built on Deleuze’s readings of time as a synthesis of the past, present and future. This interest has particular value for the construction of remembering conversations. I shall speak to the value I can see for this field of practice. The poststructuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze has much to offer narrative practice through the concepts he developed. I intend to explore some specific aspects of his reconceptualization of time in this presentation.

Tackle Prostate Cancer: A Doctoral Student’S Response, Luis E. Lacourt

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

This first hand reflection as a doctoral counseling student narrates mthe author' s social action response after learning of his diagnosis with prostate cancer. The author discusses his experience, reviews facts about prostate cancer, and applies Bandura’s (1977) Social Cognitive Theory, a SWOT analysis, and Eriksen’s (1997) social action stages to mhisactivities. These illustrate how he used his story and unique community resources to create awareness and raise funds through an event at a high school football game. Possibilities for additional advocacy events are also discussed.

Idealism & Reality: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Pastoral Expectations & Ministry Realities Experienced By Protestant Church Planting Pastors, Dwayne Bond

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With the majority of literature focused on reducing clergy stressors, there is a need to explore how pastors respond when ministry idealism dissipates, while familial and congregational expectations increase. When idealized expectations fade, how do clergy experience resiliency? The purpose of this study was to explore how idealism affects clergy resiliency and their responses, coping, and longevity in ministry. Ten new church-planting Protestant pastors were selected using snowball sampling. Each pastor was interviewed. Data from the two-hour in-depth interviews was collected, organized and analyzed. The findings for each interview were compared and contrasted, and themes were identified - a) utilizing …

Parenting Behaviors, Adolescent Depressive Symptoms, And Problem Behavior: The Role Of Self-Esteem And School Adjustment Difficulties Among Chinese Adolescents, Cixin Wang, Yan Ruth Xia, Wenzhen Li, Stephan M. Wilson, Kevin Bush, Gary Peterson

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Cross-sectional data from 589 Chinese adolescents were used to investigate whether parenting behaviors are directly or indirectly (through self-esteem and school adjustment difficulties) associated with adolescent depressive symptoms and problem behavior. Structural equation modeling results showed that school adjustment difficulties fully mediated the relations between two parenting behaviors (parental punitiveness and paternal monitoring) and adolescent problem behavior and partially mediated the relation between maternal monitoring and adolescent problem behavior. Adolescent self-esteem partially mediated the relations between maternal punitiveness and adolescent depressive symptoms and fully mediated the relations between parental support and adolescent depressive symptoms. Parental love withdrawal was not significantly …

Examining The Relationship Between Mindfulness, Religious Coping Strategies And Emotion Regulation, Mark Myers

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study was conducted to explore the relationship Mindfulness has on Religious Coping and Emotion Regulation. Three hundred and fifty-seven participants attending an evangelical Christian university were studied using self-report measures of Mindful Awareness, Religious Coping style, and Emotion Regulation. A statistical mediation analysis was used to compare the relationship between these variables. The results indicate that although the relationship between Collaborative Religious Coping and the reappraisal function of Emotion Regulation was slight, Mindfulness mediated this relationship. The results and implications, as well as recommendations for further research, are discussed.

The Efficacy Of Christian Devotional Meditation On Stress, Anxiety, Depression, And Spiritual Health With Korean Adults In The United States: A Randomized Comparative Study, Jinse Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the comparative effectiveness of Christian devotional meditation (CDM) versus progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on stress, anxiety, depression, and overall spiritual health among a sample of nonclinical Korean Christian adults in the United States. Seventy nine individuals at two churches in the northern Virginia area completed the study. At each church, the subjects were randomly assigned to a two-hour session of CDM training or PMR training. Each participant then was asked to practice the technique at home at least once a day for two weeks with audio recorded instructions. The participants' perceived level of stress, anxiety, depression, and …

Emerging From The Shadows: Civil War, Human Rights, And Peacebuilding Among Peasants And Indigenous Peoples In Colombia And Peru In The Late 20th And Early 21st Centuries, Charles A. Flowerday

Anthropology Department: Theses

Peacebuilding in Colombia and Peru following their late-20^th and early 21^st century civil wars is a challenging proposition. In this study, it becomes necessary as indigenous peoples and peasants resist domination by extractive industries and governments in their thrall. Whether they protest nonviolently or rebel in arms, they are targeted for human-rights violations, especially murder, disappearance and displacement. The armed actors, state, insurgency, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, destroy civic institutions (local or regional government) and the civil (nonprofit) sector and replace them with their own authoritarian versions. Therefore, peacebuilding has emphasized rebuilding civic institutions, civil society and local …

Best Practices In Clinical Supervision: Evolution Of A Counseling Specialty, Harriet L. Glosoff, L. Dianne Borders, Laura E. Welfare, Danica G. Hays, Lorraine Dekruyf, Delini M. Fernando, Betsy Page

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

A number of developments have marked the evolution of clinical supervision as a separate specialty since publication of the Standards for Counseling Supervisors in 1990, including accreditation and counselor licensure standards, supervisor credentials, and research on supervision practice and supervisor training, nationally and internationally. Such developments culminated in the development of a statement of Supervision Best Practices Guidelines. The Guidelines are described, followed by suggestions for their implementation and further evolution through research.

Identity And Positive Youth Development: Advances In Developmental Intervention Science, Kyle E Eichas, Alan Meca, Marilyn J. Montgomery, William Kurtines

Faculty Publications - Graduate School of Counseling

This chapter provides an overview of advances in developmental intervention science that have contributed to an emerging literature on identity-focused positive youth development interventions. Rooted in the tradition of applied developmental science, developmental intervention science aims to advance the evolution of sustainable developmental intervention strategies targeting positive developmental outcomes. These developmental intervention strategies are intended to complement the wide array of well-established treatment and prevention intervention strategies targeting risky and problem behaviors. Within this framework, positive identity interventions seek to create empowering intervention contexts that promote the development of an increasingly integrated—and therefore an increasingly complex, coherent, and cohesive—self-constructed self-structure. …

The Significance Of Marriage Intensives: A Multi-Perspective Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Couples' Post Intensive Experience, Tara Lalonde

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

At a time when divorce rates remain at 50% regardless of treatment efforts, this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explored and compared how couples made sense of their marriage experience one year after intensive marriage therapy for couples who found it significant and were able to maintain gains, and for couples who initially found it helpful but were unable to maintain gains. Three couples in each category were interviewed and compared resulting in six themes emerging from each group. Two additional overarching themes of regenerated versus disheartened and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and change emerged to clearly distinguish the two groups …

An Ecological Approach To Experiential Learning In An Inner-City Context, Pauline Garcia-Reid, Robert Reid, Bradley Forenza

Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works

In‐depth, qualitative interviewing was employed to describe processes and competencies experienced by family science interns, who practiced in a high‐risk ecological context. Twenty interns from a 3‐year period were recruited. All had interned on the same federally funded, HIV/substance abuse prevention grant in the same focal city. Within this sample, it was determined that experiential learning—vis‐à‐vis the internship—facilitated both intrapersonal processes and ecological competencies for family science interns, who may otherwise have lacked this knowledge when assuming professional roles. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

2014-05-06 Pca 2014 Ballot For Election Of Officers, Pennsylvania Counseling Association

PCA Board of Directors Meetings

No abstract provided.

Female Relational Aggression: A Case Study Investigation Of The Transitioning Out Process, Lynne Lunsford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The developmental trajectory of relational aggression (RA) can launch as early as preschool and escalate from early to middle childhood, yet it is a phenomenon that may or may not endure the adult years. There is adequate understanding of relational aggression in the active phase, yet research that edifies the transitioning out process is dearth. Through a qualitative case study research design, the narratives of six females who ceased using RA enlightened the process of desistance. All females described the transitioning out process as having an identifiable turning point accompanied by cognitive and emotional shifts associated with recognizing, valuing, and …

Emotion Focused Therapy For Couples In Addiction Treatment: The Relationship Between Quality Of Recovery, Attachment Style, And Relational Satisfaction, Bonnie Bassett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigates the efficacy of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples in an addiction recovery program. The literature review revealed that individuals with a secure attachment style experience increased relational satisfaction and report better ability to manage life's challenges as compared with individuals with an insecure attachment style. A pretest-posttest design was used to investigate the effect of EFT on quality of recovery from addiction. The primary measure's percentile rank scores were comparatively analyzed. A single case multiple baseline design was implemented to draw inferences based on examining the participants' assessment scores across baseline and intervention phases. The purpose …

The Influence Of Religiosity And Adult Attachment Style On Marital Satisfaction Among Korean Christian Couples Living In South Korea, Dae Woon Cho

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of religious commitment, spirituality and adult attachment style on marital satisfaction among South Korean Christian couples living in South Korea. Three hundred sixty nine South Korean Christian couples from nine Presbyterian churches in Seoul, Dejeon, Daegu, Gumi, and Busan participated in this research. The current study evaluated the psychometric utility of the Spiritual Assessment Scale (SAS) and investigated the relationships among religiosity (religious commitment and spirituality), attachment style (anxious and avoidant attachment) and marital satisfaction. For the psychometric evaluation of the SAS, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted for the …

Possible Psychosocial Benefits Of Having A Sibling With A Disability, Jenna M. Talbott

Senior Honors Theses

Possible psychosocial benefits resulting from exposure to siblings with disabilities are investigated in the current study. Previous literature has generally overlooked the possibility of psychosocial benefits by exclusively focusing on the negative effects of having a sibling with disabilities. Contact theory suggests that the increased exposure to individuals with disabilities should increase positive attitude toward those who are struggling with disadvantages. This investigation hypothesized that this tendency would be manifested as elevated empathy and compassion in individuals who have siblings with disabilities, and that these traits would be influenced by certain demographic variables. A survey was distributed, and the responses …

Academic Achievement In Urban Settings: Sharing Ideas And Best Practices, Amy Cook, Brad Toney, Donald Coverdale, Laura Hayden

Counseling and School Psychology Faculty Publication Series

There are multiple barriers to academic achievement among students in urban settings. The focus of this session is to exchange ideas and best practices in assisting students in urban settings to overcome challenges to achieve. The presenters will also share recent findings in research and practice to further stimulate discussion.

Compassion & Self-Compassion: Exploration Of Utility As Potential Components Of The Rehabilitation Counseling Profession, Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Compassion and self-compassion are two constructs emerging within the research as useful agents in reducing negative thoughts,feelings, and outcomes while also promoting positive ones. To date, these constructs have not been studied or applied to the rehabilitation counseling profession or the needs of individuals with disabilities. In an effort to bridge this gap and to enhance rehabilitation counseling professionals' awareness of their potential value, an in-depth review of the literature and research on these two constructs was conducted. Throughout this article, compassion and self-compassion are more clearly conceptualized and barriers which may hinder their development are discussed. A review of …