Counseling Commons^™

Ace Survey Among Individuals With A History Of National Guard Service, Daniel Lee Burns

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The study is based on previous studies regarding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) among veterans and military service members, with an emphasis on mental health outcomes in the National Guard community. Military service can induce levels of stress that can require a high level of resilience and strong coping skills. As American service members deploy for prolonged periods on a recurrent basis, their ability to cope with the stress of deployment may be more difficult. Long term deployments, combat exposure, and stressful working conditions can have lasting effects on both the body and mind. The impacts of these factors are magnified …

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 …

Sky High Anxiolytics For Rocket City Women: A Holistic Health Approach Offered, Sandra L. Bruno

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The action research project aimed to implement a counseling model to equip clients experiencing anxiety with a holistic health approach. Anxiety is often treated by prescribed anxiolytics, although many women seeking counseling at Madison Counseling have not been formally diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. The study's goal was to provide participants with physical, mental/emotional, spiritual, and relational tools that can aid the participants in the reduction or alleviation of anxiety. The proposed model incorporated empirically proven techniques that balance the women's self to reduce symptomology by providing a healthy alternative to dealing with daily anxiety and stressors, thus reducing the …

Experience Is The Best Teacher: Exploring Clinical Supervisors’ Experiences Who Receive Exclusively Administrative Supervision From Non-Licensed/Non-Clinically Trained Superiors, Monica Pattillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goals of clinical supervision are to ensure that the supervisee is using skills appropriately and properly handling a client caseload, all while being mentored by an experienced professional, known as a clinical supervisor. However, little is known about the support clinical supervisors receive in their roles. If the support is inadequate, there is a potential to impact the welfare of the clients. Additionally, there are very few researchers that have looked at clinical supervisors’ experiences when receiving their own supervision. In order to add to the body of literature on clinical supervision, this study explored clinical supervisors’ experiences when …

Emergency Care For Youth Who Experience Suicidality And Identify As Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning (Lgbtq+): An Interpretive Phenomenology, Theresa Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Suicide is a leading cause of death in children; youth who identify as LGBTQ+ are at an exponentially higher risk of suicide. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of young adults who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency care for suicidality when they were adolescents.

Methods: Heideggerian hermeneutics phenomenology is the research method used in this study. Youth, ages 18-25 years, who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency treatment for suicidality when they were adolescents (13-17 years) were recruited to participate;fifteen youth enrolled. Individuals ranged in age from 20 to 25 years. Participants described …

Promoting Trauma-Informed Competencies In Public School Teachers And Staff, Stephanie Stern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Childhood trauma is prevalent among today’s students. When educators implement trauma-informed practices in schools, student behaviors and learning typically improve. It is thus important that educators are trained in and have positive attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs toward trauma-informed care. However, high proportions of educators report that they do not receive trauma-informed training, and research regarding the effectiveness of professional development in trauma-informed care is limited. The present study examined whether educators’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding trauma-informed care differed by grade level of students worked with and previous professional development experiences in trauma-informed care, as well as tested the effectiveness …

“I Hear You”: Exploring The Lived Experience Of Counselors’ Empathic Response To Clients When Conducting Telephonic Counseling During Covid-19, Michael Sickels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dissertation supervised by Dr. Debra Hyatt-Burkhart

This study sought to unearth the lived experience of counselors empathically responding to clients via telephonic counseling during COVID-19. The term empathic response refers to as attending to the emotional and mental state of another person in a way that is attuned with the feelings and meanings of the individual’s experience. There are few studies that have assessed the merits of telephonic counseling, and even fewer that have examined counselors’ empathic response to clients through this medium.

To uncover the lived experience of the target population, the participants of the study were purposefully selected …

Experiential Learning Of School Counselors-In-Training To Work With English Learners, Qi Shi, Cielo Cournoyer, Ashlei Randolph, Matthew Scheffenacker, Jasmine Brown

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

While the need for school counselors to support ELs is prominent, school counselors believed they were not well prepared to effectively work with EL students. To inform and strengthen our practice, we engaged in a practitioner inquiry study to understand the lived experiences of school counselors-in-training (SCITs) in an experiential learning activity to work with English Learners. Three themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of classroom observations, SCITs’ reflection journal entries, and transcripts of a focus group: (a) SCITs’ perceived challenges, (b) strategies used to overcome challenges and (c) how this experiential training benefited their future work as a school …

Becoming A Trauma-Informed School: Teacher, Administration, And Support Staff's Perception To Handle Trauma In The School Setting, Jaime Baas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Childhood trauma is an increasing issue that families, children, and schools face. Schools are often restricted to specific protocols when handling undesired behaviors that could overlook or perpetuate trauma. Teachers, administration, and support staff could lack the skills to handle trauma and crisis in the school setting. This research used a single case study in a Title 1 school district focused on the perception of preparedness to address crisis using trauma-informed care— the district supports approximately 4,000 individuals including students, teachers, administration, and support staff. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived ability of teachers, administration, and …

Personality Traits And Forgiveness After Infidelity, Tammy Porter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This correlative phenomenological study aims to discover the relationship between personality traits and forgiveness, specifically when infidelity has taken place. The purpose is to identify personality traits that are positively associated with forgiveness after infidelity. The research analyzed responses from both married and divorced couples that participate in a Facebook event. The theory guiding this study is the Big Five personality traits model with the analysis of those traits related to forgiveness, specifically for infidelity. The study took a close look at each personality trait within the Big Five Personality Model as it relates to forgiveness for the couple for …

Evaluating The Use Of Poetry To Reduce The Signs Of Depression, Anxiety, And Stress In Veterans, Misty Pearl Ely

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A veteran is anyone who has served on active duty in one of the five branches of the military, regardless of peacetime or combat exposure. Currently, veterans make up 2.2 million of our nation’s population and the rates of mental health concerns are continually on the rise due to the prolonged nature of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. With the drawdown of forces, the military is smaller than usual and yet must maintain the safety and security of the world at the same standard. Therefore, these service members are recycled over and over to deployments abroad and …

The Effect Of Pastoral Care On The Direct Patient Care Staff Of The Bethany Children’S Health Center, Bethany, Ok, Job O. Ozovehe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This action project in the field of pastoral care and counseling is designed to determine the effect of pastoral care services of the Bethany Children’s Health Center, Bethany, OK, on the direct patient care staff. The project utilized a video intervention approach to provide needed support to the care team of the Bethany Children’s Health Center. Chapter one discusses the pastoral context of the pastoral care department. It presented the problem and the purpose statement. Chapter two examined the historical context of pastoral care and counseling. It explored the theological and theoretical foundations. Chapter three discusses the entire processes involved …

An Investigation Of How School Counselors Adapted Their Delivery Due To Covid-Induced Disparities, Dodie Limberg, Elizabeth Villares, Shelby Gonzales, Angie Starrett, Nadiya Rosen

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

We utilized a mixed-methods design to understand how a national sample of 589 school counselors adapted their approach to address K–12 students’ academic, social/emotional, and career development during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, we examined how COVID-19–induced disparities influenced school counselors’ delivery of services. We identified six themes using thematic analysis and conducted a t test to further understand what services and strategies counselors were actively using 6 months after the onset of COVID-19. Our findings suggest that school counselors continued to adjust their comprehensive school counseling programs to address pandemic-induced disparities.

Sexual Attitudes And Characteristics Of Onlyfans Users, Stacey Diane Arañez Litam, Megan Speciale, Richard S. Balkin

Faculty and Student Publications

As new forms of sexually explicit material (SEM) platforms emerge, sex research and sexuality-based studies must also evolve. Although the subscription-based platform OnlyFans has become an increasingly popular way for content creators to share and access SEM, the demographic information and sexual attitudes of users across sex have not yet been reported. The present study contributes to the existing body of SEM literature by providing a demographic analysis of OnlyFans users and an assessment of sexual attitudes between users and nonusers across sex. In this study, participants from a US-based sample (n = 718, Mage = 29.46, male [n = …

Counseling Supervisors' Experiences Facilitating Supervisees' Cultural Competence, Christopher D. Bozell

Dissertations

A vital attribute of counselors to provide quality client care is cultural competence. Counseling supervisors are tasked to demonstrate cultural competence in supervisory interventions by aiding the supervisees in increasing their knowledge, awareness of attitudes and beliefs, and skills related to culturally sensitive practice. Although many professional organizations require counseling supervisors to provide culturally competent supervision, very few studies have examined how counseling supervisors demonstrate their skills. This qualitative Descriptive Phenomenological study explored the experiences of counseling supervisors when facilitating supervisees’ cultural competence.

Ten individual semi-structured interviews with counseling internship site supervisors were conducted to collect data about their experiences …

The Development Of The Interdisciplinary School Violence Prevention Assessment (Isvpa): Exploratory Findings Of A Pilot Study, Lauren B. Clark

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

School violence is a global concern. Although divergent disciplines (i.e., counseling, psychology, criminology, and sociology) have made efforts to address the concern, student violence continues to occur in schools. Currently, threat assessments are widely supported and utilized to prevent school violence by examining the contributing factors to a student’s threatening communication or behaviors. The purpose of the present research was the initial development of the Interdisciplinary School Violence Prevention Assessment (ISVPA) to be used by school personnel with existing threat assessment procedures in order to connect students to counseling services. Several challenges were experienced during the research (i.e., COVID, Hurricane …

Mental Health Counselors’ Perceptions Of Professional Identity As Correctional Counselors In An Integrated Behavioral Health Care Setting, Jeanel L. Franklin

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

This study explores the professional identity of clinical mental health counselors employed as correctional counselors in an integrated behavioral health (IBH) setting. Previous research has documented the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of mental health counselors working in IBH as well as their experiences engaging in interprofessional collaboration. However, researchers have yet to explore how clinical mental health counselors in correctional settings perceive their professional identity and what aspects of their professional roles impact their identity development. This study utilized an interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA) to describe, understand, and interpret the meaning of four correctional counselors’ perceptions of their professional identities …

Broaching Race And Race-Related Issues: Phenomenological Inquiry Of Doctoral Student Supervisors Of Counselor Trainees, Judith Wambui Preston

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Clinical supervision is a central building block in counseling that ensures client welfare, fosters supervisees’ professional development, and facilities the gatekeeping process of those entering the profession (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019). In addition to gatekeeping, the American Counseling Association (ACA; 2014) Code of Ethics mandates clinical supervisors to be aware of and address multiculturalism’s role in the supervisory relationship. Because of this mandate, doctoral student supervisors of counselor trainees in CACREP-accredited programs are responsible for integrating multicultural considerations through broaching to ensure racially and culturally responsive counseling to clients from diverse backgrounds (Bayne & Branco, 2018; Jones et al., 2019). …

Equitable Counselor Education: Promoting A Sense Of Belonging In Master's Counseling Students, Jessica E. Mastrangelo

Dissertations, 2020-current

The discrepancies in racial and ethnic demographics between counselors, counselor educators, and the clients they seek to serve are prominent (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2018). Mental health counseling and the field of psychology have a traditionally Eurocentric value system that has positioned the White population to benefit from services and to become clinicians. As such, the centering of the White experience has perpetuated a lack of diversity in the field. As the demographics of the United States population continues to diversify, counseling needs to produce a greater number of racially and ethnically minoritized counselors …

Proficiency Of Social Workers In Teaching Mindfulness-Based Practices And Techniques, Vanessa Morales

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explored the self-rated proficiency of social workers in teaching mindfulness-based practices as part of treatment. It paid special attention to what they feel is the benefit to incorporating mindfulness-based practices (MBPs) into treatment and as their own personal practice. Participant responses of what has helped to develop their perceived expertise are highlighted. The literature on mindfulness reveals that mindfulness-based interventions have been effective at decreasing psychological distress caused by mental illness. MBPs help individuals dealing with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder to gain a sense of control when it comes to their mental health.

The study employed …