Counseling Commons^™

Scholarly Art: The Writing Experiences Of Student Affairs Professionals, Wanda L.E. Viento

Dissertations

Special issues of the major student affairs journals recently have reflected on the scholarship of the profession (Blimling, 2001; Roper, 2002). The focus of these recent reflections, as well as prior publications on student affairs scholarship (e.g., Davis & Liddell, 1997; Engstrom, 1999; Hunter, 1986; Hunter & Kuh, 1987), largely has been on mentoring research, describing scholarship trends, critiquing existing patterns, and/or envisioning the shape of future scholarship. While the profession of student affairs acknowledges the critical need to promote scholarship and the dissemination of information, little has actually been done to help people get there. Only a few articles …

Counselor Education And Peace Building: Current Status And Future Direction, Jenny Ritha Keller

Dissertations

Counseling professionals are informed and guided in professional development, research and practice by the relevant professional organizations that endorse the field’s professional, ethical, and competency standards. Amidst the contemporary professional proclamations of multicultural- and social justice counseling as professional grounding principles, is also the directive to promote and engage in peace building. Although the notion of peace building appear to be conceptually congruent with the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies; peace building concepts and issues, and research on nonviolence, reconciliation, democratization, and conflict transformation, are as yet unchartered notions in the counselor education literature.

The purpose of this study …

Family Functioning And Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: A Study Of First Year Malaysian Undergraduate Students, Melati Sumari

Dissertations

The findings of the study show that the relationships between family functioning subscales and career decision-making self-efficacy subscales were between small and moderate. The study also found that each family functioning subscale contributed less than 15% of the variance in career decision-making self-efficacy. The total variance accounted for by the six family functioning subscales was small (32%). Important findings of the analyses of variances include: (a) male students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than female students; (b) Chinese students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than Malay and Indian students; (c) students in science majors perceived their families as …

Communicating Bad News: A Model For Emergency Mental Health Helpers, Thomas Nardi, Kathleen Keefe-Cooperman

Faculty of Counseling & Development Publications

This article addresses the concerns of the messenger/helper who must convey tragic news to individuals and families. It offers a model to be used as a guide to ease the stress on both the deliverer and receiver of bad news. The model uses the mnemonic, PEWTER (Prepare, Evaluate, Warn, Tell, Emotional Response, Regroup), to represent the six components of the communication process.

The Effects Of Emotional Intelligence In Everyday Life : What Counselors Can Do To Reinforce E.I. In Couples Counselings, Bridget M. Bencke

Graduate Research Papers

This paper will explore the aspects that make up emotional intelligence, compare IQ to EQ, and explain how emotional intelligence plays a role in the schools and in the workplace. This paper will identify how counselors can guide and support couples to recognize their feelings and develop healthy relationships with their spouses. Although techniques involving emotional intelligence skills are important for clients in individual sessions, there has been further research done with couples regarding therapy work and EI (Goleman, 1995). Therefore, this paper will focus on "emotional intelligence in couples" counselors, but will touch on EI in the schools and …

The Relationship Of Race And Ethnic Identity To Perceptions Of Multicultural Counseling Competencies, Tonita C. Baines

Dissertations

Multicultural counseling competencies refer to the awareness, knowledge, and skills that are considered important for counselors to possess when working with culturally diverse clients (Constantine, 2002; Constantine & Ladany, 2001). Relatively few studies have looked at factors that may impact a client'sperception of a counselor's multicultural competence. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between a person's race, ethnic identity, and his/her ratings of the importance of 31 multicultural counseling competencies. A total of 304 undergraduate students (152 African-American and 152 White) from a large Midwestern university were surveyed to determine if there was a relationship …

Therapist Stress, Career Sustaining Behavior, Coping And The Working Alliance, Denise Broholm Briggs

Dissertations

Psychotherapists face many challenges in their work and are prone to experiencing stress. Their ability to cope and manage their stress may have the potential to affect their work with clients. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between therapist stress, coping styles, career sustaining behaviors, and therapist perceived working alliance. A sample of 160 psychologists, social workers, therapists, and counselors primarily from the Midwest participated in this study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, which included a rating of the stress they experienced in their work as a psychotherapist, the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, …

Religious Problem Solving And Coping With End Stage Renal Disease, Eva Bella Martinez

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study examined the impact of end-stage renal disease life-related couple/family stressors and strains on marital satisfaction, parental satisfaction, life satisfaction, and depression on end-stage renal disease patients and their spouses, as well as quality of life for patients. Also, it examined the moderating effects of three styles of religious problem-solving on the relationship between the ESRD couple/family stressors and strains and the outcome variables. Data included a sample of two hundred subjects and their spouses. Subjects were recruited from seven dialysis centers in southern California. Both patients and spouses were given survey questionnaires (i.e. Personal History Inventory, Religious Problem-Solving …

Exploring The Relationship Between Race-Related Stress, Identity And Well-Being Among African Americans, Darrick Tovar-Murray

Dissertations

For almost four hundred years, African Americans have been victims of race-related stress. Race-related stress is defined as the encounters between individuals and their environment that surface from racism and strain an individual's resources or threaten his or her well-being. Despite findings on the negative impact of racism on African Americans' well-being, very little research has focused on the relationships between race-related stress, identity and well-being among African Americans.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between race-related stress, identity, and well-being among African Americans. A total of 196 African American community members and college students participated …

Negative Stereotypes And Childhood Paternal Relationships As Predictors Of Paternal Identity In African American Fathers, Danielle K. Wright

Dissertations

African American men have been widely ignored in the social science literature. When African American men have been studied, it has primarily been from a deficit model. The purpose of this study was to give voice to the African American father, whether he is working-poor, middle-class, or upper-class, biological or non-biological, residential or non-residential. The intent of the study was to explore how African American men view themselves as fathers and their own experiences of being a parent.

One hundred and one men who identified as African American, were at least 18 years old, and who had at least one …

Experiences And Meanings Of Maternal Ambivalence With First-Born, Early Adolescents, Teresa M. Distefano

Dissertations

A phenomenological method of qualitative inquiry is used to capture the experiences of maternal ambivalence while mothering first-born, early adolescents. From the nave descriptions of seven participants a description of and response to maternal ambivalence are examined. Major findings include three overarching domains: (1) maternal context, (2) shared essence of maternal ambivalence, and (3) participants' responses to maternal ambivalence. Findings relevant to contextual variables identified as influencing mothers' daily lives with their adolescents include: (a) perceptions of their adolescent, (b) perceptions of their adolescents changing context, and (c) participants' marital status. Data comprising the shared essence of maternal ambivalence include: …

The Relationship Of Ethnicity Ethnic Identity And Problem Type To Preferences For Counselor Race In College Students: A Survey Of African-American And European-American Students, Sara H. Bausch

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

African-American and European-American participants were surveyed to determine the relationship of ethnicity, ethnic identity, and type of presenting problem on preferences for counselor ethnicity. Participants indicated their preferences for counselor characteristics, including ethnicity, for personal and academic problems. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and regression techniques. The results indicated that African American participants prefer ethnically similar counselors and all participants with high ethnic identity prefer ethnically similar counselors. The results suggested that participants prefer different characteristics for different problems. Participants indicated more willingness to seek help for academic problems. Ethnicity was a significant predictor of preference for an …

Factors Predicting Distress At Marital Therapy Onset, Joseph J.H. Horak

Dissertations

Higher levels of distress at marital therapy onset predict poorer treatment outcomes in several studies. This study selected nine variables to determine their ability to predict distress at marital therapy onset. The first two predictor variables, shame (measured by the Internalized Shame Scale; Cook, 2000) and expressive atmosphere in the family of origin (measured by the Family of Origin Expressive Atmosphere Scale; Yelsma, Hovestadt, Anderson, & Nilsson, 2000), were chosen from the literature and studies that considered these variables to be related to marital distress. The remaining seven sociodemographic predictor variables—(1) parental divorce as a child, (2) pregnancy before marriage, …

Religion And Spirituality In Counseling : A Multicultural Perspective, Linda G. Culbertson

Graduate Research Papers

As the counseling profession moves into the 21st Century a greater emphasis is being placed on multicultural and spiritual issues. It is difficult to see how the two entities can be separated. When counselors ignore that a client is Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or Christian with the unspoken assumption that religion is irrelevant .to their issues, this may jeopardize the forming of an effective therapeutic relationship (Burke, et al., 1999). Knowledge of religion and spiritual beliefs of ethnic groups can help professionals provide care that is culturally specific and sensitive to the beliefs of the individual (Bibbins, 2000).

Counselor-Client Value Similarity And Dissimilarity, The Working Alliance, And Counseling Outcome, Lynn Nylund Lupini

Dissertations

Previous research in client-counselor value similarity and outcome studies has produced contradictory results. In the present study, an expanded model of Vervaeke, Vertommen, and Storms’ (1997) value similarity construct was used to measure the degree of similarity and dissimilarity of values within the counseling dyad. The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the interrelationships among the client-counselor value similarity and dissimilarity, the working alliance and counseling outcome. The second purpose was to determine if the working alliance was a mediating factor between value (dis)similarity and counseling outcome, thus, providing insight into the previous contradictory results within the …

Online Counseling: Much To Do About Nothing In The Political World?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes some of the common issues in assessing the efficacy of online counseling.

The Life Circulatory System, Milton R. Cudney

All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors

No abstract provided.

Workbook For Eliminating Self-Defeating Behaviors And Growing Life In The Human Self, Milton A. Cudney

All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors

Hellol I am Milt Cudney, author of this workbook. I suspect you wouldn't be reading this workbook if you didn't have an interest in eliminating self-defeating behaviors and replacing them with more life-giving ones. In over 30 years of counseling with people of all walks of life I have learned some things about behavior change that may be useful to you. It is my pleasure to be able to pass these learnings on to you.

You will find direction in this pamphlet about how to live more creatively. To do so, however, you will need to understand and apply the …

Jealousy: Its Emotional Components And Its Relationship To Situational Versus General Needs., Yola Harrison

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Male and female emotional reactions to jealousy arousing situations were investigated. These reactions were studied with relation to subjects ' general and relationship needs. Subjects ' expressed emotions, their general needs, and their relationship needs were measured. The results indicated that: 1) Females express stronger emotions in a jealousy situation, however, the range of expressed emotions for both males and females is similar. 2) Although relationship needs correlated more strongly, than did the general needs, with the expressed emotions, R* values were not high enough to permit understanding or prediction of these emotions through relationship needs.

Males' And Females' Attitudes Toward A Prospective Social Group Member With A History Of Mental Illness, Kathryn H. Walburn

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Attitudes of male and female subjects toward a prospective social group member who did/did not have a history of mental illness were investigated. The cognitive, behavioral and affective components of subjects' attitudes were measured. Results from the cognitive measure indicated that: 1) Subjects in the experimental condition perceived the confederate less positively on personal characteristics indicative of moral character. 2) Male subjects perceived the confederate as more dependable when she had a history of mental illness, while female subjects perceived her as less dependable when she disclosed history of mental illness. On the behavioral and affective component measures, there were …

Innovative Techniques Of Counseling, Milton R. Cudney

All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors

Index of Techniques

• Technique # I. Counselor-Made Drawings
• Technique # 2. Taking the Flip Side Of The Argument
• Technique # 3. The Use of Owning Language By The Counselor
• Technique # 4. Let The Client In On What You Are Trying To Do
• Technique # 5. Interrupt Clients
• Technique # 6. Polaroid Technique
• Technique # 7. Holding A Pretend Gun To The Client's Head
• Technique # 8. A Technique To Make Replacement Behaviors Not Seem So Strange And Unknown
• Technique # 9. Counselor Prepared To Give The Client Examples Of What The Counselor Is Seeking
• Technique #10. Wastebasket Technique
• Technique …

Least Biased Psychological Assessment Of Non-Verbal Severle Physically Handicapped Persons, Gloria Maitlen Kemper

Graduate Thesis Collection

The general social problem which this study addresses is the inaccessibility of accurate psychological assessment to some expressively communicatively handicapped members of our society.

The Ability To Love As A Therapist-Offered Condition For Effective Therapeutic Encounter, Allan David Edson

Graduate Theses

This report begins with a historical reconstruction of the concept of therapist effectiveness in psychotherapy.

The ultimate objective is to further the work of Truax, Carkhuff, Bergin, et. al., by proposing that there is a still more basic comprehensive therapist-offered condition than accurate empathy, non-possessive warmth and genuineness. The thesis, as developed in this report, demonstrates that the aforementioned three conditions are merely constituents of the therapist's "ability to love."

Explained within, are the proposed reasons "why" the therapist's "ability to love" effects constructive personality change and the implications of the thesis for development of new models of psychotherapeutic technique, …

Investigation Of The Responsive And Initiative Dimensions In The Client-Therapist Relationship In Gestalt And Behavior Therapy, Lynda M. Pierce

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research findings to the present have indicated the responsive and initiative dimensions to be important in the therapeutic process in influencing positive outcome; yet, investigators of current therapeutic approaches have not discussed how these dimensions might be integrated into their particular orientation. Therefore, a review of the literature investigating emphasis on the responsive and initiative dimensions in the major theoretical approaches seems warranted. This procedure involves superimposing Carkhuff’s theoretical model, developed for facilitation of therapeutic outcome, upon certain of the therapeutic approaches.

Self-Defeating Characters, Milton R. Cudney

All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors

For some time I have been aware of a need to have additional ways of helping people open up to see what they do to defeat themselves. The need is to help people see, and honestly face, what they do to bring about defeating results in their lives. When people can see what they do to defeat themselves, they are in a better position to make non-defeating choices. The various characters in this book have been created by me to serve as vehicles to fulfill this need. The characters themselves do not represent real individual people, but the information contained …

The Use Of The Ohlsen Model Of Group Counseling With Secondary School Students Identified As Being Disruptive To The Educational Process, Jesse Barry Deesch

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of group sounseling with secondary school students identified as being disruptive to the educational process.

Learning Of Facilitative Interpersonal Skills In Para-Professional Training, H. A. Suffron

All Master's Theses

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of Helping skills: a basic training program in the acquisition of facilitative interpersonal skills. A Solomon Four Group Design was used with 34 upper division college students as Ss. Analysis of variance and post-hoc comparisons revealed significant effects on measures of interpersonal skills. Analysis of a questionnaire revealed positive outcomes and suggested improvements for the program. It was concluded that the program merits further research and application.

Trauma And The Use Of Formal And Informal Resources In The Deaf Population: Perspectives From Mental Health Service Providers, Stephanie W. Cawthon, Bentley W. Fink, Paige Johnson, Sarah Schoffstall, Erica Wendel

JADARA

Using grounded theory analysis, the current study identifies the perspectives of therapists and counselors regarding the nature of informal and formal resources supporting the treatment of deaf individuals with trauma. Nineteen counselors and therapists were interviewed, and accessibility, formal support, informal networks, and gaps in resources were identified as salient themes. Subsequent analysis identified concerns with confidentiality as a strong theme. This study emphasizes the need for counselors and therapists to become mindful of utilizing resources to support the treatment of trauma while being concerned with confidentiality.