Hindering Events in Interpersonal Relations Groups for Counselor Trainees

A taxonomy of hindering events that have a negative impact on the group therapy process is identified in this analogue study, A total of 40 critical incident reports collected from various times across the lives of six different interpersonal relations groups were used for the study. Student group participants completed the critical incident reports after each session and described the most hindering event occurring in each group session: the reports were then sorted into categories by judges, and the sorted categories were combined on a proximity matrix for use in cluster analysis. Eight discrete categories of hindering events were identified: absence, discounted-misunderstood, withheld self-disclosure, member disconnection, member attack, leader actions-interventions, unwanted activity, and late group.     

Leadership Practices of Non-Traditional Seminary Students

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI-Self) scores between masters-level seminary students based on the independent variables of student age, class load, gender, marital status, and parental status. The 1,254 masters-level seminary students enrolled on the main campus of Dallas Theological Seminary for the fall semester of 2003 received a survey packet, consisting of the LPI-Self, a demographic survey, and a cover letter. Three hundred thirty (330) survey packets were returned and a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze statistical difference. Statistically significant differences were found in the LPI-Self scores between groups based on age (Wilks' lambda = 0.905, F = 2.182, p = 0.006). Non-traditional age students, especially age 40 years and older, scored significantly higher in Challenging, Enabling, Modeling, and Encouraging. Other indicators of non-traditional student status (class load, gender, martial status, and parental status) were found not to be significant.     

Counselor Demographics,Ageist Attitudes,and Multicultural Counseling Competence Among Counselors and Counselor Trainees

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among counselors’ self‐reported multicultural counseling competence and their attitudes of the geriatric population. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between participants’ attitudes of the geriatric population and their self‐reported multicultural counseling competence. Implications for training and practice are provided.     

How Counselor Trainees Respond to Client Anger: A Review

A number of studies have explored how counselor trainees respond to client anger. In addition, researchers have assessed the effectiveness of techniques for teaching counselor trainees how to respond to client anger. This article provides a review of these studies, followed by a discussion of the implications for future research.     

Teaching Counselor Trainees a Divergent Versus a Convergent Hypothesis-Formation Strategy

Hypothesis-formation skills were assessed for 40 graduate counseling students randomly assigned to training in either a divergent or convergent hypothesis-formation strategy. Rating scales assessed skills in accounting for a comprehensive range of client information and for questions used in hypothesis testing. MANOVA results indicated that trainees in the divergent-training condition cited significantly more units of hypothesis information and more supportive information units and posed more hypothesis-testing questions than did trainees in the convergent training condition. Findings suggest that trainees using a divergent strategy were able to formulate more comprehensive and multidimensional clinical hypotheses. Implications for training and research are presented.     

Assessing Multicultural Competence in Counselor Trainees: A Review of Instrumentation and Future Directions

As the diversity within the U.S. population continues to increase, multicultural counseling competency (MCC) remains a central focus in counselor education and research. Accordingly, assessment of competencies is necessary to ensure culturally appropriate counseling services to an increasingly diverse clientele. This article discusses available tools for evaluating counselors' awareness, knowledge, and skills for working with culturally diverse clients, as well as new directions and trends in MCC assessment.     

Simulating Culture Shock in Counselor Trainees: An Experiential Exercise for Cross-Cultural Training

The authors describe a bipartite learning exercise designed to increase counselor trainees' sensitivity to cultural differences. The exercise emphasizes extending traditional, cognitive-focused multicultural training to include actual interactions with culturally diverse persons. A 2- month follow-up evaluation indicated that trainees viewed the learning exercise as valuable. Suggestions are made for infusing similar experientially based exercises into diverse counseling courses.     

Seminary Students and Physical Health: Beliefs,Behaviors, and Barriers

Journal of Religion and Health - As an occupational group, clergy exhibit numerous physical health problems. Given the physical health problems faced by clergy, understanding where physical health...     

Human Freedom and The Counselor

The nature and the source of human freedom have prompted considerable discourse and controversy among behavioral scientists and practitioners. Some believe that man's behavior results from a series of free choices while others contend that all behavior is determined and is therefore not free. This apparent dilemma often leads to the erroneous conclusion that we must either see man as determined and treat personal experiences of freedom as illusory, or preserve the existential experience of being free by denying prior causes for behavior. But there is no essential inconsistency in viewing all behavior as caused while also accepting and valuing the existential experience of being free. Counselors who acknowledge the causes of free experiences are in a position to establish the conditions necessary for such experiences for their clients.     

Universal‐Diverse Orientation,Cognitive Complexity,and Sociopolitical Advocacy in Counselor Trainees

The authors investigated counselor trainees' levels of cognitive complexity and sociopolitical advocacy as predictors of universal‐diverse orientation (UDO). Participants included 120 master's‐ and doctoral‐level trainees from 4 midwestern counseling psychology programs. Results revealed that, after accounting for multicultural social desirability and training experience, actual time spent engaging in sociopolitical advocacy activities uniquely predicted 1 subscale of UDO. Los autores investigaron los niveles de complejidad cognitiva y defensoría sociopolítica de los consejeros en formación como indicadores de predicción de su orientación universal‐diversa (UDO, por sus siglas en inglés). Entre los participantes había 120 estudiantes de maestríay doctorado de 4 programas de psicología clínica en el Medio Oeste de EE.UU. Los resultados revelaron que, después de tomar en cuenta el atractivo social multicultural y la experiencia en formación, el tiempo real dedicado a la participación en actividades de defensoría sociopolítica solo predijo 1 sub‐escala de UDO.     

Eco-Education: Integrating Nature into Counselor Education

ABSTRACT

This consensual qualitative research study investigated the experiences of 10 counselors-in-training after exposure to nature-based interventions during a semester-long human development class. Interview data revealed four central domains: interpersonal impact, intrapersonal impact, whole-group impact, and feedback on nature-based activities. These findings highlight the benefits of eco-education for counselor development.     

Teach Your Students Well: The Seminary and a Hermeneutics of Suspicion

In Freud and Philosophy, Paul Ricoeur argues that religious believers must be willing to expose their faith to Freud's hermeneutics of suspicion. Believers will not, following the encounter, be the same people with the same faith, but, according to Ricoeur, the alternative of avoiding the encounter is not a viable option. However, a philosophy of total exposure to Freud, or anyone else issuing a challenge to religious faith, can be difficult for seminary faculty to apply, pedagogically. Indeed, seminaries are expected to graduate into ministry, not individuals experiencing a crisis of faith or meaning, but rather spiritually rock-solid men and women. The temptation, then, for seminary faculty is to go easy on their students, but this pedagogical strategy inevitably backfires. Seminarians who are sheltered from Ricoeur's challenge may be rock-solid at the persona or surface level of human personality, but this is not, necessarily, an indication that they are individuated or integrated people of faith.     

Worldview Differences Between College Students and Graduate Counseling Trainees

The purpose of this study was to examine whether graduate students in counseling (n = 95) have different worldviews than undergraduate students (n = 177) who might be potential clients. Students in both groups completed the Scale to Assess World Views (Ibrahim & Kahn, 1987). Results indicated that undergraduate students' worldviews were significantly different from graduate counseling students'. In comparison, undergraduates were more likely than graduate counseling students to focus on the past, to perceive human nature as evil, human relationships as linear-hierarchical and collateral-mutual, and nature as powerful. Graduate counseling trainees, on average, were more likely than undergraduates to perceive human nature as good. Men were more likely than women to perceive human nature as evil, human relationships as linear-hierarchical and individualistic, and nature as controllable. Women, in contrast, preferred the being-in-becoming modality. Implications and limited generalizability of these findings for counseling are discussed.     

Sexual Ethics Training in Seminary: Preparing Students to Manage Feelings of Sexual Attraction

Pastoral Psychology - Sexual boundary violations by clergy have received heightened media attention in recent years with far reaching implications for the long-term well-being of the Church as an...     

Perceived Authoritarianism in Self and Others by Male College Students and Police Officers

This study tested 62 police officers and 62 college males on their own authoritarianism and their estimates of the authoritarian beliefs of the other group. College students perceived police officers as much more authoritarian than the officers represented themselves as being ( p < .0001). Officers were accurate in their estimations of students' authoritarianism, and there was no difference between officers and students in their characterizations of their own authoritarianism. The differences between these findings and those in much of the literature (especially that from the early 1970s) may be due to differences in police experience: Many of the officers in this sample had some college and thus direct experience with students. It may also be that officers are now being specifically chosen on the basis of less authoritarian attitudes. The results imply that rather than focusing on changing the attitudes of officers, police departments desiring better public relations might do well to concentrate on correcting public opinion.     

Spiritual Needs and Practices of Counselor Education Students

This study examined the self‐reported value of spirituality, types of spiritual practices, and values of 69 counselor education students. It also examined counseling students’ ideas for how to increase their comfort with incorporating spirituality into counseling practice. Implications for implementing spirituality training in counselor education programs are addressed.     

Vocational Personality Traits in Counselor Education and School Psychology Students

We assessed the vocational personality of 104 graduate students in school counseling, mental health counseling, and school psychology programs using Holland's ( 1997 ) theory of personality and career choice. The correlational findings confirmed the importance of vocational personality traits in relation to the academic performance of graduate students. Among the Self‐Directed Search–Revised vocational personality types, the Investigative type emerged as a consistent predictor of performance on all sections of the Graduate Record Examination. The participants from 3 graduate programs predominantly identified Social as their primary vocational personality type, with variability in the secondary and tertiary code positions. The student group with the highest degree of congruence, defined as the degree of fit between one's personality and the environment, had the highest graduate grade point average, indicating the relationship between the degree of congruence and achievement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.