Dyadic Coping in Couple Therapy Process: An Exploratory Study

This study aimed at moving beyond previous research on couple therapy efficacy by examining moment‐by‐moment proximal couple and therapist interactions as well as final treatment outcomes and their reciprocal association. Seven hundred four episodes of dyadic coping within 56 early therapy sessions, taken from 28 married couples in treatment, were intensively analyzed and processed using a mixed‐methods software (T‐LAB). Results showed that negative dyadic coping was self‐perpetuating, and therapists tended to passively observe the negative couple interaction; on the contrary, positive dyadic coping appeared to require a therapist's intervention to be maintained, and successful interventions mainly included information gathering as well as interpreting. Couples who dropped out of treatment were not actively engaged from the outset of therapy, and they used more negative dyadic coping, whereas couples who successfully completed treatment showed more positive dyadic coping very early in therapy. Results highlight the role of therapist action and control as critical to establishing rapport and credibility in couple therapy and suggest that dyadic coping patterns early in therapy may contribute to variable treatment response.     

Spiritual Evolution of Bereavement Counselors: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

This article draws from a phenomenological study on the experience of being a bereavement counselor. Ten bereavement counselors shared their experiences in bereavement counseling. Spiritual and emotional aspects of bereavement counseling with grieving and dying persons are discussed as well as the spiritual effects on and growth processes of the bereavement counselors. Participants also describe their self‐care strategies pertaining to their bereavement counseling work.     

Coping and the Job Demands-Control-Support Model: An Exploratory Study

The job demands-control-support model indicates job control and social support enhance coping with job demands. This proposition was tested, using a heterogeneous sample of 272 full-time workers. The results indicated a series of complex interactions among demands, control, support, and coping on psychological well-being. Overall, control and support appeared to increase the effectiveness of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping up to a threshold depending on job demands. The results indicate that beyond this threshold, these forms of coping become less effective. Control appeared to enhance moderate levels of appraisal and cognitive escape-focused coping, but not high levels of appraisal or cognitive escape-focused coping. Social support appeared to enhance high levels of appraisal-focused coping. The results indicate that including coping in empirical tests of the job demands-control-support model enhances its explanatory and predictive power.     

Relationship of Ethnic Identity and Spiritual Development: An Exploratory Study

The current investigation examined the relationship of ethnic identity and spiritual development. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (J. Phinney, 1992), Spirituality Ends Measure (B. Fiorito & L. Ryan, 1998), and Spirituality Means Measure (B. Fiorito & L. Ryan, 1998) were administered to 198 male and female college students from 4 ethnic groups. Results revealed differences among ethnic groups in the way that they identified with their ethnic heritage and spiritual orientation. In addition, the results Indicated that ethnic identity was positively associated with an intrinsic spiritual means orientation and negatively related to an extrinsic spiritual ends orientation. Implications for counselors and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Stress and Coping Among Displaced Bosnian Refugees: An Exploratory Study

Traumatic experiences associated with the recent war in Bosnia (1992–1995) have impacted the lives of many Bosnian refugees and displaced people. Approximately 25% of Bosnians were forced to leave their homes and resettle in other areas of Bosnia or abroad. In this study, 82 displaced Bosnians living in the area of Tuzla, Bosnia, and 53 refugees living in the San Francisco Bay area completed the same questionnaire in the Bosnian language. The study describes war-related stress and the association of marital status, anxiety, depression, and sensitivity levels. Furthermore, being single, having lower anxiety ratings, finding and adapting to a new environment easily, and moving on with their lives indicated better self-reported health. Findings also revealed that being divorced or separated, better self-reported health, and lower anxiety, depression, and sensitivity ratings were predictors of more effective coping.     

Spiritual Coping of Emergency Department Nurses and Emergency Medical Services Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iran: An Exploratory Study

Journal of Religion and Health - Emergency department (ED) nurses and emergency medical services (EMS) staff have been recently exposed to high levels of stress due to the new Coronavirus...     

The Conceptualization of Anxiety: An Exploratory Study of Japanese American Older Adults

Few empirical studies exist on the mental health of Japanese American older adults. This study focused on how Japanese American older adults conceptualize anxiety. Participants were presented with a checklist, which included anxiety and depression symptoms identified in a previous qualitative study conducted by the authors, as well as symptoms from Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IVrpar;. They were asked to imagine a Japanese American older adult who was experiencing anxiety and check off the symptoms he/she would be experiencing. Results indicated that these Japanese American participants conceptualized anxiety by using more depressive symptoms than anxiety symptoms. In addition, contrary to previous research and speculation about how Asian Americans experience psychological distress, participants also checked a larger number of cognitive symptoms as opposed to somatic symptoms. The present data suggest that Japanese American older adults conceptualize anxiety differently from the traditional psychiatric conceptualization of anxiety. Thus, clinicians and researchers should not generalize symptoms of psychological distress developed and researched on nonminority older adults to ethnic minority adults, and should consider such ethnic group differences in their assessment and treatment methods for ethnic minority adults.     

Transcultural wellness: An Exploratory Study

This study explored differences in wellness scores between a transcultural sample and the normative sample of the Five Factor wellness Inventory (5F‐wel; Myers & Sweeney, 2005c). Differences between the two groups were found on all scales of the 5f‐wel, with transculturals scoring higher than the normative sample. Implications for practitioners and researchers are presented for those working with transculturals. Este estudio exploró las diferencias en puntuaciones de bienestar entre una muestra transcultural y la muestra normativa de los Cinco factores del Inventario de Bienestar (5F‐wel, por sus siglas en inglés; Myers & Sweeney, 2005c). Se hallaron diferencias entre los dos grupos en todas las escalas del 5f‐wel, con las puntuaciones transculturales siendo más altas que la muestra normativa. Se presentan implicaciones para profesionales e investigadores que estén trabajando con individuos transculturales.     

Unity and Diversity in American Political Culture: An Exploratory Study of the National Conversation on American Pluralism and Identity

Drawing on participant observation and quantitative analysis, this paper investigates the National Conversation on American Pluralism and Identity, a series of local conversation projects organized by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1995 and 1996. After linking this program to debates about American political culture, the paper analyzes the observational and survey data in light of five hypotheses about the conversations. The conversations reveal fundamental, unresolved dilemmas regarding the compatibility between American identity and ethnic pluralism, although the participants sometimes cope with these dilemmas in culturally creative ways.     

Counselor Preparation and the Association for Spiritual,Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling Competencies: An Exploratory Study

A national study of American Counseling Association members (N = 230) examined perceptions of the importance of the 14 Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) Spiritual Competencies and perceived ability to practice those competencies. Learning pathways to achieve knowledge of the ASERVIC Competencies were explored. Participants viewed the competencies as important but felt less able to consistently practice them. Prior exposure to the content of the competencies through spiritual topics covered in graduate school was positively correlated to perceived ability to practice the competencies. Recommendations were made for strengthening teaching of spirituality in counselor education.     

Defying Unjust Authority: An Exploratory Study

This research explores the psychological factors potentially involved in fostering disobedience to an unjust authority. Our paradigm was modeled after that of the Utrecht Studies on Obedience (Meeus and Raaijmakers European Journal of Social Psychology 16:311-324, 1986) in which participants are ordered to give each of 15 increasingly hostile comments to a participant/victim whenever he fails a trial. Although 30% of our sample followed commands to insult the other participant (confederate), the majority did refuse to do so at some point in the escalating hostility sequence. Our procedure utilized conditions known from prior research to increase the ratio of disobedience to obedience: proximity of teacher to learner plus remote authority. In order to better understand some of the cognitive and affective processes that may predict such defiant behaviour, we utilized a variety of measures, among them, behavioural observations, individual difference assessments, and in depth post-experimental interviews.     

Professional Career Services: An Exploratory Study

This study assesses the willingness of three groups of job seekers to use professional career counseling services.     

Psychological Change in Everyday Life: An Exploratory Study

The innovative moments model was used in a pilot study that aimed to explore the change processes involved in everyday change outside psychotherapy. According to this model, the emergence and development of innovative moments (IMs) as exceptions to a problematic pattern are closely associated with psychological change. A longitudinal design covering 4 months of interviews was implemented with 13 adults who were coping with significant personal problems without clinical psychopathological complaints. Semistructured interviews were used to explore participants' personal accounts of their problems, and change was assessed using a scaling task at the end of the study. A total of 114 interviews were analyzed using the innovative moments coding system. A general linear model showed that higher levels of change were associated with higher proportions of complex IMs over time. Moreover, lower levels of change were associated with an increase in elementary IMs. These results support the idea that successful psychological change in everyday life shares similarities with the change pattern found in psychotherapy using the innovative moments model.     

Video in the College Classroom: An Exploratory Study

The effect of a counselor working directly with college teachers on a specific student learning problem—oral nonparticipation in discussion classes—was explored. Seven college history instructors viewed with a counselor videotaped excerpts of their own classroom discussion sessions. During playback sessions the counselor modeled and verbally and nonverbally reinforced certain instructor behaviors seen on video. Four instructors viewed tapes individually (IT) with the counselor; three instructors viewed tapes in a group (GT) with the counselor. Results: (1) Instructors reported video-playback counseling was very helpful in changing their behavior in the classroom; (2) Instructors became more aware of how verbal and nonverbal cues influence student behaviors; (3) Small group playbacks seemed as effective as individual playback procedure.     

Job Attitude Organization: An Exploratory Study1

An exploratory study was conducted to examine the organization of three often used measures of job satisfaction. Employing a convenient sample of 144 workers, who also were enrolled in evening graduate school courses, relationships between these job satisfaction measures and affective (positive and negative) and cognitive attitudinal components were assessed. The job satisfaction measures were found to vary considerably in terms of their affective and cognitive content. These results were discussed in terms of their relevance to the study of job attitudes.     

Sustaining our Spirits: Spiritual Study/Discussion Groups For Coping with Medical Illness

Illness is a universal experience that evokes a range of difficult emotions and tough spiritual questions, often without satisfying answers. Illness can be alienating and isolating. Sustaining ones spirits and preserving identity in the face of illness is a challenge for patients, family members, and caregivers. This paper introduces Spiritual study/discussion groups to strengthen patients perceived coping with illness. The groups introduce a spiritual perspective, provide emotional support, and offer a variety of spiritual coping tools, utilizing traditional and contemporary resources. Preliminary evaluations suggest that a healing time and space is created through the provision of comfort, connection, support, and inspiration.     

Religiosity, Spirituality, and the Subjective Quality of African American Men's Friendships: An Exploratory Study

The present study fills a crucial gap in literature surrounding the lives of African American men by exploring factors that shape the quality of these men's friendships. Drawing on data from a sample of 171 African American men, the study examines the relative utility of subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, advice exchange, and affective sharing as predictors of the level of perceived support from male and female friends. Findings reveal age differences in subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, and in level of advice and affective exchange in men's same-sex as well as cross-sex friendships. Age differences emerged in men's perceptions of the supportiveness of their friendships with women but not with men. Age was not a predictor of perceived supportiveness of same-sex or cross-sex friendships. Subjective religiosity did not predict support in same-sex or cross-sex friendships. Subjective spirituality positively predicted perceived support in men's same-sex friendships but not in cross-sex friendships. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Spiritual Warfare in American Education

Why do some children convergently accept the faith of their families, while other children divergently reject their family beliefs? McClintock's qualitative analysis of 21 sets of parents and adult children found 12 of the sets to be convergent and 9 to be divergent. Convergent children tended to experience the church as warm and loving and their personality styles were cooperative and collaborative. Divergent children were independent and their religious beliefs were personal and individualistic. Implications for the home, school, and church are discussed.