The mentorship of undergraduate students in counselling psychology research

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in engaging undergraduate students in psychology research through a mentorship relationship with psychology faculty members. For students, faculty members, and universities committed to undergraduate research mentorship, the potential rewards may be considerable. Yet, the mentorship of undergraduates in research is not without significant challenges. This article examines the benefits and challenges of mentoring undergraduate students in research, both generally and in the specific discipline of counselling psychology. Suggestions for promoting research mentorship relationships between faculty and undergraduate students in counselling psychology and overcoming obstacles are discussed.     

Counselling psychology in South Africa

The origin and development of counselling psychology in South Africa has been profoundly influenced by the country’s sociopolitical history and the impact of apartheid. As a result of this, counselling psychologists in the country face a number of challenges and opportunities for the future. In this paper we provide a portrait of counselling psychology in South Africa by describing the current character of the specialty and the context in which South African psychologists work. We critically discuss the challenges that the specialty faces to meet the country’s mental health care needs, contest the current Scope of Practice; affirm multiculturalism without essentialising or reifying race and ethnicity, and build an evidence base for community interventions in the country. We also consider how, in the future, counselling psychologists in South Africa may make a more meaningful contribution within public health and the country’s health care and education systems.     

The future of Canadian counselling psychology: Doctoral students

Little is known about the overall characteristics and beliefs of Canadian counselling psychology doctoral students. An online survey was administered to 43 doctoral students across all Canadian counselling psychology programmes, representing an approximate 26% response rate. Results indicated that the average age of doctoral students in the sample was about 32 years and that the majority were women (about 77% in the sample). Additionally, findings can be taken to suggest that participants were satisfied with their choice of counselling psychology as a career. The doctoral students sampled primarily practised from an integrationist theoretical standpoint and spent very little of their practice time providing formal psychological assessment services or career counselling. Participants generally intervened through individual counselling or psychotherapy and were focused on disorder treatment rather than preventative or developmental services. Curriculum changes that should be considered from the results of this study pertain to the topics of assessment, career counselling, advocacy/media skills, professional identity development and prevention/developmental interventions. The results of this study can also be taken to predict characteristics of the next generation of Canadian counselling psychologists and the future practice of counselling psychology in Canada.     

Tracking trends: A longitudinal look at internship placements in counselling psychology in the United States

Efforts to track trends in internship placements across time serve the field of counselling psychology in a number of ways. But this research is qualified by its reliance upon a single source of data: the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Program (CCPTP) annual survey. This paper provides a review of the concerns related to this over-reliance, and addresses these concerns by supplementing this data source with the comprehensive data collected by the Association of Psychology and Post-doctoral Internship Centers (APPIC). Findings provide a longitudinal look at the supply and demand issue concerning internship placements, track the nature of pre-doctoral internship placements across a 30-year period of time, and generally support the validity of the CCPTP data by documenting their close correspondence to recent APPIC data.     

Teaching assistant training in counseling psychology

We surveyed training directors and counseling psychology graduate teaching assistants at Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs to acquire information concerning Teaching Assistant (TA) training, supervision and teaching experiences, and the extent to which TAs believe their training and supervision helped them to feel competent in their teaching duties. TAs were most satisfied with those training methods related directly to the practice of teaching (e.g., role playing and receiving feedback on practice teaching). Implications for training counseling psychologists as educators are discussed.     

Editorial synthesis for counseling psychology and relationship science: Making connections and expanding disciplinary diversity

The field of relationship science began with understanding the role of attraction and has expanded to examine factors associated with relationship initiation, development, and maintenance. Despite the growth of the field, recent reviews of topics present in relationship science have revealed a dearth of literature examining sociocultural contexts that may impact relational processing, especially for traditionally underrepresented groups in science. Notably, given the theories, frameworks, and methods applied in these disciplines, counseling psychology and relationship science are at the forefront of examining such contexts. To this end, the goal of the special issue was to bring together scholars whose work is either an application of or showcases how the contemporary foci of counseling psychology, including but not limited to intersectionality, social justice, cultural competence/humility, identity, strengths-based approaches, and social power hierarchies are applicable to the study of relationships broadly defined. This editorial synthesis provides a brief summary of the four articles that are included in this special issue and ends with recommendations for future research that intersects counseling psychology and relationship science.     

Positive psychology: Past,present, and (possible) future

A survey study and two experiments were done to test the hypothesis that social flow is more enjoyable than solitary flow. In the survey study it was found that recalled social flow experiences were rated more enjoyable than solitary flow experiences. In the first experiment when challenge and skill were the same across social and solitary conditions, social flow was reported to be more enjoyable than solitary flow. In the second experiment when the level of social interdependence was manipulated it was found that participants in highly interdependent teams reported more joy in flow than individuals performing less interdependently. In both experiments, people playing simple paddleball games reported and expressed more joy performing with others than alone. Taken together, the three investigations support the conclusion that doing it together is better than doing it alone. Solitary flow, while quite enjoyable, is not as enjoyable as social flow.     

Counselling psychology in the United States

Counseling psychology (CP) emerged in the US as the result of the convergence of a number of trends in early applied psychology, a number of social factors, as well as changes in the organizational structure of the American Psychological Association. We offer an overview of the history of counseling psychology in the US, focusing on key events that have helped establish and shape the profession. Struggles over the definition of CP as a specialty and its relations with clinical psychology and professional counseling are discussed, as are matters related to the licensing of CP practitioners, and the profession’s relationships with counseling-related professional organizations. The educational and professional preparation of CPs, the profession’s core values that affect both training in and the practice of counseling psychology, and the settings in which CPs work are briefly described. We close with a discussion of several of the challenges facing CP as it is organized and institutionalized in the US.     

Development and current status of counselling psychology in Taiwan

This article details the three stages of counselling psychology’s development in Taiwan, including pre-legislation, legislation and post-legislation. In pre-legislation stage, a brief historical review of the growth of counselling and guidance is introduced, which is the root of the contemporary counselling psychology. The process of the Psychology Act’s legislation is described in legislation stage and the relationships between counselling teachers and clinical psychologist are also discussed. In the post-legislation stage, the licensure system, training programmes, main professional organizations, work settings, and the major opportunities and challenges for the counselling psychology field are presented. In addition, the article refers to data from a national survey of 124 counselling psychologists to provide a profile of the counselling psychologists in Taiwan.     

Counselling psychology in the United Kingdom

Counselling psychology within the UK has grown over the last three decades, adapting to many changes in the field of applied psychology, whilst remaining true to its core values and humanistic origins. The identity of counselling psychology is strongly rooted in a relational stance and applied psychology, where attention to psychological formulation is given to improve psychological functioning and well-being. This article outlines a brief history of counselling psychology in the UK, the training process, credentialing and looks at some important challenges and future directions for counselling psychology in the UK. A proportion of the members from the British Psychological Society’s division of counselling psychology (DCoP, N = 148) took part in the study. Participants provided demographic, training, employment, workplace and career pathway information obtained through an online questionnaire distributed to all DCoP members. On the whole, DCoP members are working in a variety of areas within the UK and the findings of this article contribute to the international study comparing counselling psychology across the globe.     

Counselling psychology in South Korea

Counselling psychology (CP) in South Korea has grown tremendously as it establishes its unique niche in the mental health profession. Diverse practice under the roof of CP is a strength as well as a weakness. In this paper, we describe the characteristics of CP in South Korea in terms of history, credentialing, the service delivery system, organizations, training, distinctive features from other adjacent areas, core values, and the profession’s unique challenges and future directions. Future tasks include the establishment of clear professional identity, achievement of a governmental licensure system, a nationwide accreditation system, development of Korean-specific ways of counselling, protocols for trauma, and increased accessibility.     

Counselling psychology in New Zealand

This article offers a brief overview of the history of counselling psychology in New Zealand. It describes current postgraduate study options and registration pathways as well as the institutions and organisations that provide legislative and professional membership and support to counselling psychologists in New Zealand. Data collected from a national survey in 2014 provide insight into the demographics of the profession in New Zealand, the theoretical frameworks that are utilised and employment opportunities that exist for counselling psychologists. The article also highlights the uniqueness of a cultural and contextual approach that aligns itself with New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti o Waitangi which is based on the principles of partnership, participation and protection. It concludes with the challenges the profession face as a new scope of practice. These challenges include establishing a professional identity in the mental health delivery system in New Zealand and responding to an ever increasing multicultural society.     

Peer relationships in counseling psychology training

Twelve students from APA-accredited counseling psychology doctoral programs were interviewed about their experiences with peers in their program, and about their values and beliefs about peer relationships in graduate school. Interview data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research. Participants reported a wide range of positive (e.g. collaborative and supportive) and negative (e.g. competitive and hostile) interactions with peers inside and outside of the classroom, in research, and in clinical work. Compared to advisory and supervisory relationships, peer relationships were typically less formal and more open. The sharing of common training experiences generally facilitated mutual understanding among trainees. In addition, a visual analog scale, the peer relationship scale (PRS), was used to measure participants’ closeness with peers. Results from the PRS appeared to be useful in distinguishing participants with the most positive and negative peer relationships, warranting further investigation of its psychometric properties and application in program evaluation and research on training. Implications for training are discussed.     

Why mindfulness belongs in counseling psychology: A synergistic clinical and research agenda

Mindfulness has become an increasingly visible part of the landscape in psychology and medicine in the past several decades. Only recently has this same interest in mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions appeared in counseling psychology. This article provides a brief synopsis of the mindfulness literature and explores the theoretical, ideological, and practical overlap between core values of counseling psychology and this burgeoning area of research and practice. In addition, the article explores ways in which counseling psychology can contribute uniquely to mindfulness research and practice through a focus on multiculturalism and social justice, psychotherapy process and outcome, and supervision and training. Further, ways in which mindfulness can inform counseling psychology’s mission are examined, including offering a strengths-based approach to psychological intervention and prevention and informing supervision and training. Lastly, five specific recommendations for a synergistic research agenda marrying mindfulness and counseling psychology are offered.     

新媒体研究述评及其心理学研究取向

新媒体的横空出世,对人们的生活带来极大影响。针对新媒体自身的一些问题及其影响,国内外进行了一系列研究。在综观相关研究成果基础上,介绍了新媒体的内涵与外延、特征及新媒体时代的起始时间,并主要介绍了新媒体的研究焦点,包括新媒体对人们生活方式及生活质量的影响,影响人们对新媒体态度及行为背后的心理因素分析。最后,在综合评价已有研究的基础上,提出应进一步加强新媒体的心理学研究取向,同时指出新媒体研究问题的具体深入化、方法的多元化及研究的本土化是未来的研究趋向。     

An extraordinary ordinariness

Counselling psychology in the UK has evolved from the disciplines of psychology, sociology and philosophy, but more slowly than its counterpart in the USA. Counselling psychologists, it is argued, have the skills and training to integrate good practice with rigorous research. Expertise in rigorous research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, and skill in identifying new paradigms, make the interface between practice and research in counselling psychology an especially fruitful area for study.     

Translational research in behavior analysis: historical traditions and imperative for the future

"Pure basic" science can become detached from the natural world that it is supposed to explain. "Pure applied" work can become detached from fundamental processes that shape the world it is supposed to improve. Neither demands the intellectual support of a broad scholarly community or the material support of society. Translational research can do better by seeking innovation in theory or practice through the synthesis of basic and applied questions, literatures, and methods. Although translational thinking has always occurred in behavior analysis, progress often has been constrained by a functional separation of basic and applied communities. A review of translational traditions in behavior analysis suggests that innovation is most likely when individuals with basic and applied expertise collaborate. Such innovation may have to accelerate for behavior analysis to be taken seriously as a general-purpose science of behavior. We discuss the need for better coordination between the basic and applied sectors, and argue that such coordination compromises neither while benefiting both.     

Sponsored research in the counseling psychology literature

Elliott and Shewchuk (1996) assert that counseling psychology should have considerable potential to influence national healthcare and public policy. A mechanism for realizing this potential entails being responsive to national, state and private funding initiatives for reaearch and other programmatic activities. To examine the extent to which counseling psychology resarch reflects an involvement in these initiatives, we studied the rate of sponsored research in three journals traditionally associated with mainstream counseling psychology research. We compared this rate with that observed in oher applied and theoretically oriented psychological journals. In comparison with the research published in the other outlets, results indicated that the mainstream counseling psychology literature has a disproportionately low level of sponsorship from national and federal sources. The scant representation of federally-funded research in the counseling psychology literature may effectively preclude full participation in addressing and setting national funding priorities and other health care and public policies germane to the field. Several issues are raised and discussed in light of these findings.     

Qualitative research in psychology: Attitudes of psychology students and academic staff

Qualitative research is experiencing a resurgence within the field of psychology. This study aimed to explore the range of attitudes towards qualitative research in psychology held by students and academics, using the model of attitudes by Eagly and Chaiken as a framework. Twenty‐one psychology students and academics were interviewed about their attitudes towards qualitative research. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. While qualitative research was described as inherent to the psychology profession and useful for generating rich data, some participants felt that this approach was not well respected or considered as legitimate as quantitative methods. Reflecting common misperceptions about qualitative research, participants also expressed concerns that qualitative research was too subjective and had limited generalisability. Furthermore, some participants felt that they lacked the skills and confidence necessary to conduct qualitative research. Large investments in time and resources were identified as barriers to undertaking qualitative research. Identifying attitudes towards qualitative research provides a basis for future work in dispelling myths, promoting attitudinal change and increasing both the use and teaching of qualitative approaches in psychology.