Counseling Commons^™

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Women’S Lived Experiences During Their Pregnancy Lifecycle, Ashley J. Blount, Charmayne R. Adams, Kara M. Schneider, Gurudutt Pendyala, Ann L. Anderson-Berry, Corrine Hanson

Office of Health Promotion Scholarship

When considering peri-and-post natal health, there are several biopsychosocial risk factors at play. Biological, psychological, and social health factors are significant in contributing to maternal wellbeing and influencing maternal morbidity/mortality [1]. The Covid-19 pandemic had significant impacts on general populations and on vulnerable groups such as pre-peri-and-post natal women [2]. In previous epidemics, pregnant women were reluctant to attend hospitals and doctors’ appointments due to fear of infection [3]. Covid-19 has shown similar effects [2] and as such, risks associated with the pregnancy lifecycle have increased. A phenomenological investigation found themes of women experiencing negative healthcare, struggles with self-advocacy, heightened …

Experiences Of School Counseling Trainees In A Primary Care Integrated Behavioral Health Care Practicum, Kaprea Johnson, Krystal Clemons, Lauren Robins, Alexandra Gantt-Howrey, Afroze Shaikh, Heather A. Jones

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Youth integrated behavioral healthcare (IBH) is a preferred method of service delivery, and school system expertise on these teams is imperative. In this descriptive phenomenological study, we sought to understand the experiences of five school counseling practicum students (SCITs) engaged in IBH in an urban children's hospital. Phenomenological analysis resulted in five themes: (a) contributing school system knowledge, (b) expansion of professional identity through practical application, (c) collaborative interventions and techniques, (d) interprofessional supervision, and (e) program and setting challenges. Implications for counselor education and supervision, including IBH-specific training for SCITs, conclude.

Infusing Military Culture In Multicultural Counseling Frameworks: A Phenomenological Study, Katherine M. Atkins, Toni R. Tollerud, Tilottama Roy-White, Lauren E. Brdecka, Deanna Chrones

The Qualitative Report

This descriptive phenomenological study focused on counselor educators’ (CESs) experiences infusing military culture into counseling curriculum. Specifically, this study sought to learn what counseling programs can do to best prepare counselors-in-training to work with military families. The researchers used the McCracken (1988) method to interview ten participants who had terminal degrees in counselor education or a highly related field, experience providing services to military-connected clients, and were aware of military cultural facets (e.g., implicit and explicit expectations, rules, and ways of being). The findings support the need to redefine multiculturalism and intentional infusion of military culture in counseling curriculum to …

Experience Of Underrepresented Students In Master’S-Level Counselor Education Programs, Deborah L. Duenyas, Andre Sumiel, Jill Krahwinkel

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The purpose of this phenomenological investigation was to understand the racial and ethnic experiences of underrepresented Master’s-level counseling graduate students in CACREP-accredited counselor education programs. The second author conducted semi-structured interviews with six masters-level counseling graduate students. Data analysis revealed four composite themes that comprised students’ experience. The themes were: Perceived Cultural Competence, Individual Characteristics, Connection and Advocacy, and Bringing “It” Up. Implications on how counselor education programming and curriculum can provide support for underrepresented students are provided.

The Role Of Whiteness In Access Disparities In College Counseling Services, Jeff Klug, Sharon K. Anderson

Faculty Works

As an antiracist problematic, Whiteness was used to better understand the persistence of access disparities to college counseling centers for students of color. This study explored the question, “How do experiences of Whiteness impact access to mental health care for domestic, undergraduate White students and students of color at their respective college counseling centers?” Semi-structured interviews were completed with 6 undergraduates (three White students and three students of color). Data analysis was completed through three successive, iterative cycles of coding: value systems, color-blind ideologies, and Whiteness. The first two cycles of coding informed the last cycle. Five themes of Whiteness …

Counselors' Perceptions Of Their Preparedness For Telemental Health Services: A Phenomenological Examination, Daniel C. Holland, Jeffry L. Moe, Alan M. "Woody" Schwitzer, Shana Pribesh, Jeanel Franklin

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Background: To examine counselors' perceptions of their formal preparation for engaging in telemental health (TMH) counseling with the intent of gaining an understanding of their lived experiences.

Materials and Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with seven seasoned counselors who regularly engage in technology-mediated distance counseling.

Results: The results highlighted themes within two emerging categories: the counselor and training/education. Themes related to motivation and specific counselor attributes emerged from the first category and themes of availability, inadequacy, and modality emerged from the second category.

Discussion: The implications from this study suggest a lack of availability and standardization of effective training on …

The Lived Experiences Of Intercultural Couples' Attachment To Their Respective Culture And Its Influence On The Success Or Dissolution Of Their Marriages, Emmanuella Etienne Denis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of intercultural couples’ devotion to their cultures and how it influenced the success or dissolution of their marriages. The theories guiding this study included cultural attachment and intersubjectivity. The cultural attachment theory helps couples explore their childhood experiences because not all attachment is solid and dependable. Intersubjectivity theory suggests that every person is influenced by their friends, family members, and surrounding culture. Worldwide, when couples enter a relationship straying away from their culture instead of staying connected to their native culture, intercultural couples face a dilemma. However, when …

Exploring The Impact Of Generational Trauma On Mother-Daughter Relationships With An Emphasis On The African American Community, Bernadette Denise Ward

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In many communities the mother-daughter relationship is not only vital in the younger years but also in the teen and young adult years. Several studies have explored a mother’s influence on her daughter’s views of the self, others, and the world in general. The mother-daughter relationship does not only impact personal morals and values but also the types of relationships the daughters gravitate to. In the African American community, many of the mother-daughter relationships are known to be similar in nature and/or dynamics throughout generations. Relationships that are tainted or known as toxic also seem to cycle throughout several generations. …

Cross-Cultural Distance Dialogues In Counselor Education: Collaborative Pedagogy, Sarah N. Baquet, Jehan Hill

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Researchers examined the experience of participating in Cross Cultural Distance Dialogues (CCDD) in facilitating Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency (MSJCC) through an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). With the high need to develop curriculum in counselor education programs that intentionally incorporate cultural competencies (Ratts et al., 2016), this study was conducted to explore an innovative pedological technique that further fosters MSJCC within master's level coursework. Four counseling students engaged in a structured dialogue across university campuses during their multicultural course were selected for participation in this study. After completing two rounds of interviews and a member check, the following themes …

Veterans In Counseling Programs: Military Service And The Counselor Training Process, Crystal D. Hahn, Carl R. Price, Claudia G. Interiano-Shiverdecker

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

The authors conducted a transcendental phenomenological study to acquire a deeper understanding of graduate student veterans’ experiences in counselor training programs and explore how military background influences counselor development. Results are based on semi-structured interviews with eight graduate student veterans enrolled in counseling programs across the United States. Four themes resulted which impacted counselor training processes (a) military behaviors, values, and identity (b) military counseling cultural contrasts, (c) integrating military service into counselor training, and (d) veteran-friendly suggestions for counseling programs. This study presented a range of experiences graduate student veterans have in counselor training programs, concluding that this student …

Exploring The Attitudes And Perceptions Of Hispanics As Caregivers For Children In Foster Care: A Phenomenological Study, Erica M. Ortiz-Pellicer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the attitudes and perceptions of Hispanics living in Tampa Bay, Florida regarding foster parent roles. The theory guiding this study is the researcher’s axiological philosophical assumption. The philosophical assumption is applied within the social constructivist interpretive framework. The researcher seeks to understand the study participants' world and develop meaning to their lived experiences, as discussed during the interviews. The participants’ views are the primary source of reliance for the research (Creswell & Poth, 2018). The researcher’s position in this study is relative to their social position, personal, political, and professional beliefs …

Bereavement In Isolation During Covid-19 Pandemic, Shelia Renee Stroman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic with the protocols of social distance, isolation, and quarantine changed the practices associated with traditional funerals and rituals. The purpose of this phenomenology study was to understand the lived experience of individuals that process bereavement in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is a new phenomenon; the research questions will guide this study to understand the lived experience of individuals that process bereavement in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research questions were (1) What are the experiences of those that processed death without rituals or traditions during COVID-19, and (2) How has COVID-19 transformed and …

The Experiences Of Collegiality By Early-Career Counselor Educators, Jessica M. Tyler, Malti Tuttle, Marina Naviaux, Sara Ellison

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

It is essential to develop a work culture that supports faculty needs, be it professional for promotion and tenure, or personal. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of collegiality by early-career counselor educator faculty members (CES) working in a CACREP institution. Relational support, expectations, administration, and doctoral experiences emerged as themes from these narratives. Implications for the field are discussed to address these experiences and provide recommendations to counselor education faculty and departments.

Motivated But Challenged: Counselor Educators’ Experiences Teaching About Social Determinants Of Health, John M. Waters, Alexandra C. Gantt, Allison Worth, Bisola Duyile, Kaprea Johnson, Davide Mariotti

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

A phenomenological study was conducted to understand eight counselor educators’ experiences teaching about social determinants of health. The analysis yielded three themes: educator identity, motivations, and challenges. Implications for counselor educators preparing future counselors to be leaders in multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy are provided.

Body Image And Relationship Satisfaction In Middle-Aged Women, Julia C. Solem

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the connection between positive body image and relationship satisfaction with middle-aged women. Current research (Ambwani & Strauss, 2007) suggests body image and relationship satisfaction has a bidirectional influence. However, much of the current research focuses on a younger demographic, and middle-aged women are often a neglected population. This study seeks to better understand the interpersonal nature of healthy development in body image and relationships in middle-aged women. A phenomenological approach is utilized to observe the lived experiences of middle-aged women in committed relationships with positive body image. Six participants, between the ages …

An Application Of The Two Routes In Counseling Philosophy, Lance Kair

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

This is a case study of a session with a subject. The subject’s name is philosophy. Philosophy needs a counseling intervention due to the development of an epistemological rupture revealing two routes into or upon knowledge. This problem that philosophy faces arises along two epistemological routes, called truth and reality. The significant issue of philosophy is how to reconcile a true reality. The proposal at hand for this consideration by philosophy is that a reconciliation is most effective though argumentative validation in orientation over argumentative proof in ideological reduction. Our effort here works toward the truth of reality found through …

Motivated But Challenged: Counselor Educators' Experiences Teaching About Social Determinants Of Health, John M. Waters, Alexandra C. Gantt, Allison Worth, Bisola Duyile, Kaprea Johnson, Davide Mariotti

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

A phenomenological study was conducted to understand eight counselor educators' experiences teaching about social determinants of health. The analysis yielded three themes: educator identity, motivations, and challenges. Implications for counselor educators preparing future counselors to be leaders in multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy are provided.

A Room With A View: Experiences Of Moms Off Meth Using Heuristic Inquiry, Joey Leigh Gude

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Methamphetamine related consequences continue to darken many families and communities. Multiple service provider types are often overburdened in dealing with the reality of methamphetamine misuse (Brownstein et al., 2012). This research explored the impact of the methamphetamine epidemic with a specific focus on mothers with methamphetamine addiction. Mothers present with a myriad of challenges, and inadequate contextual information exists to address these challenges (Alexander et al., 2018; Bathish et al., 2017; Cunningham & Finlay, 2013). This qualitative heuristic inquiry sought to illuminate experiences of methamphetamine addiction in mothers. The qualitative research questions sought to give a voice to the lived …

Virtual School Counseling Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tawonda Maria Hunter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

School counselors work with students and families to remove or minimize social, emotional, and academic barriers to education. In a traditional setting, school counseling can be rewarding yet not without obstacles. These obstacles or challenges are compounded when variables like role changes, shifts in the work setting, and a pandemic are present. This phenomenological study aimed to understand the lived virtual school counseling experience amid COVID-19 for elementary school counselors in Georgia. The phenomenological theoretical framework by Edmund Husserl was the theory guiding this study. This theoretical framework helped provide a rich description of school counselors' lived experiences working virtually …

The Exploration Of Why Burnout Occurs With Registered Nurses Who Work In Psychiatric Care Settings, Jenna Booth

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Due to the demands of the job and the nature of the work, being a psychiatric nurse can be mentally, emotionally, and physically draining. As a result, burnout rates are high among psychiatric nurses. Burnout can negatively impact the well-being of psychiatric nurses as well as the quality of patient care. It is important to explore and understand psychiatric nurses' experiences of burnout to help prevent and decrease burnout. A phenomenological qualitative design was utilized to explore psychiatric nurses' lived experiences of burnout. A survey, qualitative in nature, was sent out to nurses at a psychiatric hospital. Phenomenological data analysis …

An Essay Concerning The Substance Of Counseling, Lance Kair

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Our modern world appears to lack a way to find truth. Philosophically, this problem is formulated in a manner of knowing which never gets beyond the subject of the universe; even objectivity in the universe is arguable. The effort called empirical science then gives us conclusions that regularly perpetuate an unstable world. Due to this real subjective empirical constraint, the usual approach to therapeutic Counseling offers methods focused on the individual obtaining skills and conceptions that function to mitigate the apparent and ubiquitous problem of modernity. Empirical science, whether it be physical, biological or phenomenal, has left us with only …

Tying Wellness Into Action: A Phenomenological Study Of Graduate Counseling Fieldwork Students At A Christian University, Daniel E. Reyes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Mental health professionals take more days off for illness than other health-care professionals do, and many practicing counselors perceive their colleagues as stressed, distressed, and even impaired. Hence, counselor-education programs should focus on equipping future practitioners to practice better self-care when dealing with work-related stress. There appear to be numerous gaps in the literature on encouraging wellness in counselors-in-training (CITs), and no rigorous empirical study has been conducted on CITs’ wellness at a faith-based institution. This phenomenological study focused on investigating the lived wellness experiences of seven graduate counseling students at a Christian university, in a program accredited by the …

Struggles, Coping Mechanisms, And Insights Of Childless Teachers In The Philippines: A Descriptive Phenomenological Approach, Randy Ale Tudy, Ida G. Tudy

The Qualitative Report

The phenomenon of childlessness has elicited interest among professionals all over the world. However, this phenomenon received little interest, particularly in the Philippine context. The purpose of this study was to describe the struggles, coping mechanisms, and insights of childless teachers in the Philippines. We employed a descriptive phenomenological research design. Ten childless teachers participated in the semi-structured key informant interview (KII), and the data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s method. Results revealed the following themes: embarrassment, incompleteness, and pressures for their struggles; escapism and optimism for their coping mechanism; and work commitment and acceptance for their insights. Although being childless …

A Phenomenological Study Of Felt Sense Among Beginning Counselors, Perry Peace, Sondra Smith-Adcock

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of felt sense among six graduate counseling students. Each participant engaged in two semi-structured interviews and completed a journal of felt sense experiences. A Hermeneutic phenomenological method was used to analyze interview transcripts and journals. Findings, as well as implications for counselor education, supervision, and counseling practice, are discussed.

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Counselors In Training When Discussing The Existential Factors Of Death, Isolation, Freedom, And Meaning In Life With Their Clients, Sabina Musliu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Grounded in the theoretical framework of existential therapy, this study aimed to uncover the lived experiences of counselors in training when addressing existential factors of death, isolation, freedom, and meaning in life with their clients. To have a better understanding of this phenomenon and address the research questions, data was primarily collected via semi-structured interviews. The obtained data was analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The data analysis process revealed six superordinate themes from the participants’ experiences: the emotional experience in the session and during the interview; transference/ countertransference; perspective on existential factors; factors that influenced counseling effectiveness in …

Moments Of Reflection: A Phenomenological Study Of Preservice Teacher Reflection, Jane Ferris

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Transitioning from their training programs to their own classrooms, new teachers may feel a disconnect between what they learned and what they experience. To help with this transition and to promote teachers’ abilities to respond to the varying and unique needs of their students and schools, teacher training programs, beginning in the 1980s, have incorporated the use of reflective practice. Reflection provides teachers an opportunity to engage with their experiences in such a way that prereflective understandings, assumptions, biases, and beliefs may be identified. Reviewed literature suggests that teacher training programs do not clearly define and implement reflection instruction into …

Epistemological Issues In Counselor Preparation: An Examination Of Constructivist And Phenomenological Assumptions, Brett D. Wilkinson, Gary Shank, Fred Hanna

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

This article clarifies how the epistemological issues of belief justification and truth values relate to counselor preparation methods. Exploring constructivism and phenomenology in detail as well as aspects of positivism relevant to counselor education, we highlight how specific philosophical assumptions about student learning inform counselor education. We propose that counselor educators and researchers may benefit from exploring phenomenology as a supplementary instructional approach to constructivism.

The Experiences Of School Counselors As Anti-Bullying Specialists: A Phenomenological Study, Michael D. Hannon, Angela Sheely-Moore, Thomas A. Conklin, Andrew J. Reitter, Kathy A. Gainor

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

To learn about school counselors’ experiences in being assigned as their school’s antibullying specialist (ABS), per state legislation, we interviewed six school counselors and analyzed their responses using interpretative phenomenological design. The participants’ responses reflected three overarching themes describing their ABS experience: negotiating different bullying definitions, the “dumping ground” position, and inherent with role conflicts. We present implications for school counseling practice and recommendations for school counseling research.

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Counseling Students In A Co-Facilitated Experiential Group, Alexandra Meyers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research in the fields of experiential learning, group psychotherapy, and neuroscience has supported the inclusion of the experiential group in counseling training programs due to the potential for positive impact on students’ personal and professional development (Badenoch & Cox, 2010; Denninger, 2010). Investigations exploring counseling students’ experiences of the experiential group have been primarily limited to quantitative studies, while in-depth qualitative inquiry has been minimal. Additionally, an extensive review of the literature has found there have been no qualitative studies examining experiential groups co-facilitated by a course instructor and a doctoral student. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to …

The Phenomenal Space Of Soulful Silence, Ellen Wimmer

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Where has silence gone? What does this mean for the spiritual soul? This analysis utilizes a phenomenological and qualitative lens to assess the way silence and the soul interact. The author posits that the relationship between silence and the soul, or soulful silence, creates a space to learn about the powerful phenomena that shape us. Through imagery, metaphor, and personal reflection the author embarks on a descriptive journey to explore what we learn by sitting in soulful silence, the phenomenological and spiritual implications of soulful silence, and how one must first become intimately familiar with their own soulful silence …