Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Challenges And Resiliency Of Adolescents Living With Parents Misusing Substances: A Mixed Methods Study, Alison Palmer

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This study aimed to identify challenges, resiliency factors, and needs of adolescents living with parents misusing substances. Seven first-year students at James Madison University in PSYC 101 and PSYC 160 classes signed up to participant in this study to receive course credit. While supervised by a mental health provider, participants individually completed a Modified CAST-6 screener as well as a locally developed survey. A nonexperimental mixed-methods study was conducted including the convergent collection of quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed through Braun and Clarke’s (2006) model of thematic analysis. The …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Collaboration Between School Psychologists And Board-Certified Behavioral Analysts, Taylor J. Bronaugh

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of communication styles brought on by distanced learning and its effect on collaboration for school psychologists and Bord Certified Behavioral Analysts (BCBAs). Prior studies have addressed collaboration habits between these school-based professionals. The current study aims to analyze the impact that COVID-19 had on these practitioners’ collaboration habits and to investigate their current communication and collaboration habits. A mixed methods locally developed anonymous survey was created and used for data collection. Participants were recruited through social-media groups and via word-of-mouth sharing. 20 school-based practitioners shared their perceptions and experiences with …

Too Much Fun: A Collaborative Autoethnography Detailing The Significance Of Friendship Between Women Of Color In A School Psychology Graduate Program, Arayana A. Harris

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Using collaborative autoethnography (CAE), the presented thesis explores the friendship of four women of color attending a school psychology graduate program. Friendship is presented as a protective factor with particular relevancy for women of color, and for racially- and ethnically-minoritized (REM) students attending graduate school. Researcher-participants utilized a concurrent approach to CAE, and data collection methods included journal entries and recorded conversations between researcher-participants. Relevant themes identified using emergent thematic coding included the meaningful characteristics of friendship, as identified by researcher-participants, as well as skills and actions identified as being influenced by friendship. Key ideas discussed include the meaningfulness of …

Partner Or Participant? Parent Experiences Within Pre-Referral Meetings, Mason R. Folk

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Existing research on parent experiences in school-based problem-solving team meetings has focused on the special education process; however, the pre-referral process precedes this and may influence future collaborative efforts. This study investigates parents' experiences in pre-referral meetings and explores their perceptions of participation, factors influencing their involvement, and barriers they face. A convergent mixed methods approach was utilized to analyze parents’ quantitative and qualitative responses to an online survey; frequency of response to survey items and thematic analysis were used to present a holistic depiction of parents’ personal experiences. Results suggested that although parents report positive experiences within their meetings, …

Exploring The Needs Of Military Children In Public Schools: What School Psychologists Need To Know, Hannah A. Delmonte

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Although research has been published documenting the increased risk for negative social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes of military-connected students, no research prior to this study has given voice to these students and explored their experiences and needs. Five military-connected high school students participated in a focus group exploring what their lived experiences are in the context of living in a military-connected home and what they wish their schools knew to better support them. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data and six themes emerged from the discussion: the emotional burden these students carry, distance they feel …

Examining Intergenerational Trauma And Mental Health Supports Within The Latinx Community: A Rapid Review, Liliana Ferrufino

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Intergenerational trauma is a phenomenon experienced by many individuals including those within the Latinx community. This literature review examines the mental health challenges faced by Latinx youth, including depression, anxiety, and the impact of bicultural stress and discrimination. Additionally, the literature review discusses existing intergenerational trauma interventions such as the Intergenerational Trauma Treatment Model and a multi-tiered approach in schools. The current rapid review explored what methods have been evaluated to address the mental health needs of Latinx youth. After a search of databases, three studies were selected. The methodology and findings from each publication is briefly summarized, highlighting the …

Self-Compassion For Counselors-In-Training, Sydney Iwanski

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This paper examines the concept of self-compassion and how counselors-in-training (CITs) can develop and refine their self-compassion practice to improve their experience during the counseling practicum semester of their graduate studies. First, this paper will discuss the definitions of self-compassion, the benefits of self-compassion, and things to be aware of in beginning self-compassion work. Then, the paper will discuss the needs of beginning counselors with special attention to the practicum semester. Finally, this paper will provide suggestions for the specific ways self-compassion can help CITs progress in their practice and studies with special attention to supervision, attending to clients in …

Affirmative And Integrative Counseling For Lgbtqia+ Individuals, Allison De Blois

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Counselors are ethically obligated to serve LGBTQIA+ clientele and therefore should strive to integrate an affirmative approach to counseling. A counselor may say that they are providing affirming care, however it is important to reflect on what affirming counseling is in application. To better serve LGBTQIA+ clientele, counselors may grow their affirmative counseling approach by being knowledgeable of historical considerations, evidenced-based approaches to implement, clinical recommendations for a counselor to implement, and considerations on advocacy practices and resources.

A Mother’S Disenfranchised Grief: Pregnancy Loss, Madison Jones

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Grief is unique to each individual and in the way it manifests socially, relationally, and physically. There are varying different types of grief and this paper examines disenfranchised grief specifically, miscarriage. Miscarriage, although prevalent, has been understudied in its approach for support and its impact on mothers. The current literature is examined to highlight counseling considerations and approaches to support for this population. Limitations in the current research are identified as gender and racial minorities being understudied. Grief will be experienced by everyone at some point in their lives and counselors must be competent in appropriately supporting this entire population.

Cultural Considerations For Working With Young Adults Who Have Experienced Childhood Trauma, Yasmine Rodriguez

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Childhood trauma can create effects that show up throughout the lifespan. Young adulthood is the first stage of life after adolescence and involves working through more advanced developmental challenges. This offers an important reason to examine the possible outcomes early life has on young adulthood, especially for those who have experienced trauma. This knowledge can be pivotal in different professional sectors such as the mental health and educational fields. The work presented explores common childhood trauma experiences, signs of childhood trauma within both children and young adults, and cultural considerations. Recommendations such as possible interventions and training for professionals …

Identifying The Current State Of Practice Utilized By School Counselors And School Psychologists In Facilitating Divorce Groups In Elementary Schools, Stephanie Harris

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Divorce is considered an adverse childhood experience (ACE) and may lead to a number of negative outcomes for children involved. Research has demonstrated that these children may have higher amounts of internalizing difficulties, externalizing difficulties, as well as lower academic performance. The present study analyzes the current state of practice surrounding divorce groups for elementary aged children within a county of a Southeastern state. The researcher gathered data by providing an online, anonymous survey by attending department meetings for school counselors and school psychologists. The data revealed that several facets of how these groups are facilitated align with evidence-based practice; …

Dealing With Your Dragons: Counseling Through Dungeons And Dragons, Devon Howell

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The purpose of this literature review is to explore the idea of using the game of Dungeons and Dragons as a form of group counseling in a therapeutic setting. A search of relevant literature was conducted to discover potential therapeutic utility and cultural aspects of this prospective methodology. It was hypothesized that while the topic might not be well researched, it will yield potential possibilities for therapeutic use. The research presents possibilities for different theoretical underpinnings; in particular, it offers a unique range of benefits to both the client (improvements to social skills, sense of community, and overall mental health), …

You Have Every Right To Be Angry: Impacts Of The Angry Black Woman Stereotype And Counseling Considerations For Helping Black Women Honor Their Anger, Jenelle Francis

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The Angry Black Woman (ABW) stereotype depicts Black women as hostile and aggressive. It is rooted in slavery and functions to silence and invalidate Black women. The ABW stereotype perpetuates racist ideology and is used to control the narrative of Black women and justify their mistreatment. Black women are faced with the impacts of the ABW stereotype throughout different areas of their life, beginning in childhood. Because of the risk of being negatively and inaccurately perceived, Black women have had to filter themselves to not be labeled as aggressive, hyperemotional, and/or the “angry” Black woman. This paper explores the history …

Acculturative Stress, Challenges, And Experiences Of Asian International Students In The United States, Matthew Silver

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Within the United States, many international students may experience the process of acculturation. Acculturation exists when an individual, or group of individuals, from one culture, encounters another culture. Within that context is the experience of acculturative stress (AS). AS is the negative outcome resulting from the pressure and unsuccess of acculturation. In the psychology (and sociology) literature AS is measured among many international communities for many more host countries. Within the United States, Asian International Students (AIS) especially have been seen to have higher rates of AS and a greater hesitation to pursue therapeutic intervention to mitigate the symptoms and …

Increasing Social Engagement In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Perspective Taking Skills Training, Robyn Devendorf

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The current study sought to teach the perspective-taking skill, a behavior that may require training in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and contribute to an increased ability in children with ASD to engage socially. One-on-one perspective-taking intervention sessions between the examiner and a child identified with ASD took place over ten sessions. Sessions were structured with the guidance of the Social Thinking curriculum entitled, “You Are a Social Detective!”. A single-case design was employed, and results were reviewed through quantitative measures using teacher ratings on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) at pre- and post-intervention. Additionally, use of the Goal …

Representation Is Everything: The Impact Of Diversity In Literature On The Racial Identity And Psychological Safety Of Black Youth, Zaakirah B. Fulani

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This study addresses the issue of U.S. schools often acting replicating the same racist/discriminatory practices that play out on a national level, resulting in school being an unsafe environment for Black and other REM students. A lack of psychological safety in schools, according to research, can lead to decreased academic achievement and engagement, feelings of stress and anxiety, and a negative school experience. This study proposes that using culturally relevant texts in curriculums can enhance psychological safety for Black students in order to cultivate safe school environments for REM students. Using an analysis of qualitative data from focus group discussions …

Rural Populations Amongst The Mental Health Crisis In The United States Of America: Implications For Counseling Professionals, Caylyn Arbogast

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The United States is currently experiencing a mental health crisis, following the COVID-19 Pandemic. While the United States continues to experience stigma around mental health, the impacts of the mental health and substance use crisis are even more prominent within rural communities. Challenges include lack of funding, transportation, availability, et cetera regarding the access and availability of services. Virginia, being comprised of mostly rural areas increases the likelihood that counselors may encounter a client from this background or directly serve people of these communities. Counselors are challenged to increase accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and availability to decrease barriers to treatment. As …

Supporting The Mental Health Needs Of Youth Through Neurobiologically-Informed Approaches, Hannah P. Jarrett

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Many children and adolescents are experiencing increased mental health challenges, resulting in a serious public health crisis. Mental health providers must apply innovative, research-based, and developmentally responsive intervention to meet the current mental health needs of youth. Neurobiologically-informed approaches, such as Polyvagal Theory, the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, and Interpersonal Neurobiology, could be used to support children and adolescents appropriately and effectively across a variety of settings. These approaches apply principles of neuroscience, acknowledge developmental considerations, and attend to the impact of trauma. This project reviews mental health trends in children and adolescents, provides a brief overview of these approaches, …

A Survey Of School Psychologists To Promote Support For Developing Self-Advocacy Skills In Students With Disabilities, Kiarra K. Steer

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Self-advocacy is a critical skill for effective communication and for individual assertion of interests, needs, and rights (Hengen & Weaver, 2018). It is especially important for people with disabilities to be able to self-advocate, which includes understanding their own abilities and rights and being able to voice when they need assistance or when their rights are being violated (Hengen & Weaver, 2018).

Even though self-advocacy has been determined to be a necessary skill for students with disabilities to develop, research indicates that self-advocacy instruction is often not provided to students with disabilities. Furthermore, while researchers have shown that teaching students …

The Impact Of Teacher Wellness Programming During Highly Stressful Times, Madeline Brawley

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of participating in a stress-management program on teachers’ self-reported stress and well-being. Participants included a small group of new teachers and their assigned veteran teacher mentors from an elementary school in a large school district in Central Virginia. Self-reported stress as it relates to teacher-teacher relationships and physical symptoms increased significantly from pre- to post-test completion. All other stress measures, with the exception of time management, also increased over time; however none of these changes were significant. Teaching efficacy and school connectedness declined over time, while teaching satisfaction increased. These …

Teacher Perception Of A Brief Mindfulness-Based Curriculum And Its Impact On The Development Of Social Skills And Self-Regulation On A Preschool Classroom, Allison Poggendorf

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Recent studies on mindfulness and its impact on children have found promising results, especially with social-emotional skill development. A majority of the research on mindfulness applied in educational setting tends to focus on elementary and high school students, and there is limited, but growing research that examines the impact of mindfulness among early childhood students. This current study explored the impact of a brief mindfulness-based curriculum on an intact preschool classroom. Specifically, this study examined if preschool teachers perceive mindfulness practices in the classroom to impact their students’ self-regulation skills and social skills and how likely they were to continue …

The Role Of Teacher Efficacy In Readiness To Support Lgbtq+ Students In Schools, Andrew Levy

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

LGBTQ+ students experience a myriad of difficulties associated specifically with their sexual or gender minority status. The current body of research has focused on negative outcomes of these difficulties, while there is a dearth of research into how schools can position stakeholders to support these students. Teachers often serve as consistent, direct points of contact for students in schools. As such, this study aims to explore teacher candidates’ sense of professional self-efficacy and its relationship with their confidence in supporting LGBTQ+ students in three ways: individual interventions, developing their own knowledge and skills, and systems-level advocacy. Teacher candidates were surveyed …

The Perceived Self-Efficacy Of School Counselors To Provide Interventions And Support To Students Using Substances And The Potential For Collaboration With School Psychologists, Monica Holtz

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Substance use has the potential to impact a student’s academic success; however, school counselors are in a position to intervene and provide support to these students to potentially mitigate the impact of the students’ use. Research shows that school-based interventions are effective in reducing substance use, but school counselors may not feel clinically prepared to provide these services. A random sample of school counselors in the state of Virginia practicing at the middle and high school level completed a survey regarding their feelings and perceptions of substance use intervention and support, including their self-efficacy to provide services, level of training, …

School Racial Climate And Discipline Practices, Maya Rivers

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The disproportionate use of punitive discipline practices with students of color in American school systems is prevalent among many sources of literature. Consequently, student experiences and perceptions of school climate are often tainted, which has yielded school-wide initiatives to improve in these areas. As school psychologists work to improve school climate with the goal of decreasing the racial discipline gap, they may consider strategies to improve the school’s racial climate. Using the School Climate for Diversity – Secondary Scale (Byrd, 2017), the current study explored what relationship, if any, exists between school racial climate and discipline at the secondary level. …

Youth Caregiver Focus Group: An Exploration Of School Support Staff’S Perceptions Of Youth Caregivers, Rianna Taylor

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The present study aimed to identify the level of knowledge, awareness, experience, and perceptions school support staff (school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, and school nurses) have of youth caregivers. In addition, this study investigated school support staff’s confidence in their ability to identify and support this population specifically in Virginia schools. The focus group consisted of 4 school support staff participants which included two school nurses, one school counselor, and one school psychologist. The participants were asked a list of questions pertaining to the youth caregiver population during the 42-minute focus group meeting over Zoom. The focus group …

Integrating Creative Arts In Counseling: Review And Recommendations, Brittany Sehenuk

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Creativity is present in many aspects of counseling practice. While clinical decisions are often assisted by the ability to think creatively, clinicians may not identify the potential benefit further exploration of creative pursuits within the counseling room could provide. The following paper seeks to explore the benefits of arts in counseling as well as the barriers that keep clinicians and clients from feeling comfortable brings arts into sessions. Arts may assist clients dealing with trauma and grief and can provide support for training clinicians and those in training. Clients and clinicians both may keep themselves from connect with artistic activities …

The Fetishization Of Asian American Women: Where We Are And Where To Go, Genevieve Askin

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Women of color in the United States suffer from hyper sexualization and fetishization, and Asian American (AA) women are no different. These racial microaggressions and normalized expressions of oppression based on both race/ethnicity and gender contribute to a distinct marginalization that women of color experience. This paper seeks to 1) explore the unique layers of oppression that AA women face, including combating the model minority myth, westernized beauty standards, and fetishization, as well as 2) address the difference in reception between the Stop Asian Hate movement and Black Lives Matter, while defining and critiquing the whitewashing of this field in …

Marketing And Branding For Counseling Interns And Residents In Private Practice, Madeline Grove

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

For interns and residents in mental health counseling beginning their careers in a private practice setting, building a full-time caseload of clients is challenging. The process of marketing and branding outpatient psychotherapy services is not generally covered in clinical training programs, leading to a gap in practical knowledge upon departure from higher education. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of behavioral health disorders have increased, leading to a sense of urgency to providing care for communities in need. Effective marketing and branding of services allows for clinicians to work with populations they are most well suited to serve, and potentially allows …

Beyond Broaching: Existential Meaning Making Of Blackness Within Therapeutic Work, Monica M. Cooper

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This integrated literature review explores the mental health field’s contribution towards the subjugation of Black people through the means of researching human existence that affirmed white supremacy and bolstered the dehumanization of Blackness. This paper also explores how this negligent behavior on the part of the mental health field trivialized the deep pain and suffering experienced by Black people and provided the means to further dehumanize Blackness. The author provides frameworks to better understand the existential trauma experienced by the Black collective due to racism being embedded in societal narratives and history with the help of the mental health field. …

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …