Qualitative Methodology in Counseling Research: Recent Contributions and Challenges for a New Century

For the past 10 years, qualitative research methodology has become more visible in counseling studies. Results from a content analysis of articles published between 1997 and 2002 in 4 professional journals in the field (Counseling and Values, Journal of Counseling & Development, Professional School Counseling, and The Counseling Psychologist) reveal that qualitative research represents 1/6 of all the articles published. Research trends in target publications are identified and suggestions for the development of the field regarding qualitative research are presented.     

Transition to the Clinical Doctorate: Attitudes of the Genetic Counseling Training Program Directors in North America

In North America, genetic counseling is an allied health profession where entry level practitioners currently must hold a master’s degree earned from a graduate program accredited by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. This is one of many health care professions that could transition to an entry level clinical doctorate degree. This study explored the attitudes of genetic counseling training program directors toward such a transition. Thirty-one North American program directors were invited to complete an online survey and a follow-up telephone interview. Twenty-one program directors completed the survey and ten directors also completed a follow up phone interview. There was disagreement among the respondents on the issue of transitioning to a clinical doctorate degree (nine in favor, six against and six undecided). Respondents disagreed about whether the transition would lead to higher salaries (six yes, eight no, and seven unsure) or increased professional recognition (eight yes, eight no, and four unsure). Approximately half (n = 10) of directors were not sure if the transition to a clinical doctorate would help or hurt minority recruitment; six thought it would help and four thought it would hurt. However, the majority (n = 13) thought a clinical doctorate would help genetic counselors to obtain faculty positions. If the field transitions to a clinical doctorate, 11 of the directors thought their program would convert, seven were unsure and one thought their program would shut down. Themes identified in interview data included 1) implications for the profession 2) institution-specific considerations and 3) perception of the unknown. Opinions are quite varied at this time regarding the possible transition to the clinical doctorate among genetic counseling training program directors.     

Client Quest—A Key to Counseling

The expression quest is proposed to represent any unifying theme of client purposes. Counseling is then defined as an interview in which client quest is superordinate to counselor quest. It is suggested that client quests be classified by their direction. Thus, quests may be for understanding or change, and, at a higher level, for mastering self or environment. The identification, clarification, and management of client quests becomes central to effective counseling. Ideally, as an expert in human learning and development, the counselor is a hypothesis maker who works with his client to facilitate conquest. Dissonance is said to occur when the purposive balance is inappropriate to counselor or client quests. The congruent counselor reduces dissonance by discussing changes in the purposive balance openly with the client and by avoiding professional roles in which client quests are subordinated.     

A New Definition of Genetic Counseling: National Society of Genetic Counselors’ Task Force Report

The Genetic Counseling Definition Task Force of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) developed the following definition of genetic counseling that was approved by the NSGC Board of Directors: Genetic counseling is the process of helping people understand and adapt to the medical, psychological and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease. This process integrates the following: •Interpretation of family and medical histories to assess the chance of disease occurrence or recurrence. •Education about inheritance, testing, management, prevention, resources and research. •Counseling to promote informed choices and adaptation to the risk or condition. The definition was approved after a peer review process with input from the NSGC membership, genetic professional organizations, the NSGC legal counsel, and leaders of several national genetic advocacy groups.     

Post-September 11th Perspectives on Religion, Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti: A Response to My Colleagues

This is a discussion and evaluation of the views of the authors of the article “Post-september 11th perspectives on religion, spirituality, and philosophy in the personal and professional lives of selected REBT cognoscenti.” Several of the authors are shown to endorse most of the main principles and practices of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) but also to hold some of its important views on unconditional self-acceptance and unconditional other-acceptance lightly and inconsistently. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling and Development, Fall 2004, Volume 82. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association.     

Professionalism's Challenges to Professional Counselors' Collective Identity

The authors discuss how attaining various standards of professionalism has inadvertently resulted in challenges to professional counselors' collective identity. The authors reviewed interviews with senior contributors to the profession published in the Journal of Counseling & Development, identifying themes in their comments to suggest potential solutions to helping professional counselors find unity in diversity.     

Special Topics in the Journal of Counseling & Development,Volumes 66–80

The authors review previous examinations of the American Counseling Association's (ACA) Journal of Counseling & Development (JCD), consider various editors' policies that shaped the Journal, and update L. W. Harmon and H. E. Harker's (1989) analysis of special interest topics featured in JCD. Studying the flagship professional journal of ACA provides insight into the evolution and development of the profession of counseling.     

A psychological interview process for career assessment

The authors present a comprehensive four-step process for conducting initial career assessment by interview. The process assesses skills, interests, values, non-work relationships, goals and activities, and psychological aspects such as self-esteem and work attitudes. The interview process is flexible, internally consistent and portable. Step One analyzes the client's work history and includes reasons why such a history may be inadequate. Step Two examines work-related preferences. Step Three investigates lifestyle context, and Step Four produces a summary of all the accumulated interview information, including options the client wishes to avoid. Detailed worksheets accompany the article.This article has been adapted, with permission, from Chapter 3, Promoting Client Self Understanding, in Yost, E. B., and Corbishley, M. A.Career Counseling: A Psychological Approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987.     

Ethical Implications of a Critical Legal Case for the Counseling Profession: Ward v. Wilbanks

This article presents the official position of the American Counseling Association on a seminal legal case for professional counseling: Ward v. Wilbanks. The focus is on three key questions: Is it permissible to deny counseling services to a homosexual client on the basis of a counselor's values? Can referrals be made at any time a counselor wishes to do so? When is a client a client?     

Racism's Impact on Counselors' Professional and Personal Lives: A Response to the Personal Narratives on Racism

The author identifies common themes among the personal narratives pertaining to racism (Journal of Counseling & Development, 77[1], 1999) and discusses implications of some themes for counselors' professional and personal development.     

New Concepts in the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics

The 2014 revision of the ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014 ) substantially raises the bar for the ethical practice of professional counselors. This article provides interviews with members of the ACA Ethics Revision Task Force that explore and clarify new imperatives in the areas of ethical decision making, professional values, managing and maintaining boundaries, technology (including social media), the nonimposition of counselor personal values, counselor education, legal issues, sliding scales, and fee splitting.     

The Passage of Counselor Legislation in the 1991 Arkansas State Legislature

In the summer of 1990, the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Associationfor Counseling, Guidance, and Development (now the Arkansas Counseling Association) committed to proposing a legislative package to the 1991 Arkansas General Assembly that included bills to grant privileged communication to school counselors; a third-party payment bill for licensed professional counselors; and a resolution calling for the reduction of noncounseling-related duties for school counselors. This article details the legislative efforts of the Arkansas Association for Counseling, Guidance, and Development in the 1991 Arkansas General Assembly and provides insight for other American Association for Counseling and Development (now the American Counseling Association) state affiliates in planning and implementing a successful legislative program.     

The Voice of the Voiceless: An Interview With Thelma Daley

Thelma Thomas Daley, through leadership, service, teaching, and publication, has been committed to the counseling profession for over 40 years. Daley was a pioneer in the counseling field as the 1st African American president of the American School Counselor Association in 1971 and the 1st African American and 3rd female president of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (now American Counseling Association [ACA]) in 1975. In this interview, she recounts her experiences as an organizational leader committed to enhancing the multicultural growth and professional excellence of ACA.     

The Professional Identity of Contributors to the Journal of Counseling & Development: Does It Matter?

R. K. Goodyear (2000) criticized the methodology and results of a study which demonstrated that during the editorial terms of Goodyear (1984–1990) and Claiborn (1990–1993) there was a trend toward publishing articles written by psychologists as opposed to counselors in the Journal of Counseling & Development (JCD). The issue of journal content goes to the heart of professional identity. The authors assert that professional affiliation of contributors matters less than the content of the articles published in JCD (i.e., articles must “speak” the language of counselors and not the language of some other mental health professional).     

Ethical Challenges in a Complex World: Highlights of the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics

Being an effective counselor includes having knowledge of and the ability to integrate a code of ethics into one's professional practice. This article addresses some of the highlights of the changes in the 2005 ACA [American Counseling Association] Code of Ethics such as end‐of‐life issues, boundaries and relationships, and multicultural and diversity considerations. It is critical for counselors to demonstrate cultural sensitivity during the ethical decision‐making process throughout their counseling, supervision, teaching, and research practice.     

A philosopher's view of values and ethics

Counseling is the practical art of making rational decisions about values; thus it is part science and part philosophy. As a professional activity it falls midway between science and philosophy and partakes of the characteristics of both. Counseling readily recognizes its dependence on professional science for empirical knowledge about fact and theory but tends to ignore the analytic contributions of professional philosophy for understanding the nature of value and value theory. Counseling will be a better art when counselors are as concerned with what philosophy says about values as they are with the contributions of the social sciences.     

Counseling Supervisors: Standards for Preparation and Practice

The emergence of counseling supervision as a professional specialty is reviewed, the need for standards of training and practice is explained, and the process by which the “Standards for Counseling Supervisors” came into existence is described. Current and potential options for their implementation are discussed.     

Relative Influence of Professional Counseling Journals

The authors used social network analysis of citation data to study the flow of information and relative influence of 17 professional counseling journals. Although the Journal of Counseling & Development ranked very highly in all measures of journal influence, several division journals emerged as key players in the flow of information within the counseling profession. Results highlight the many facets of journal influence and the fallacy of using single measures, such as journal impact factor, to rank professional counseling journals.     

Education With Mind,Heart, and Soul: An Interview With Mary Finn Maples

Dr. Mary Finn Maples is a historic figure in the counseling field. She has been president of the American Counseling Association and president of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC). She was one of ASERVIC's earliest members, dating back to when it was known as the National Catholic Guidance Conference. Dr. Maples has had an extensive career, and this article highlights some areas of her career, particularly pertaining to her time and commitment to ASERVIC and religious or spiritual issues in counseling. This interview focuses on her career, philosophy, and dedication to the field.