Counseling Juvenile Offenders: A Program Evaluation

This article reviews the results of the effectiveness of counseling services provided by the Juvenile Counseling and Assessment Program (JCAP) of the Juvenile Court of Clarke County, Georgia. Individual and group counseling services were provided for 55 male and female adjudicated delinquent youths, ages 9 to 17, over a period of 4 to 6 months. The recidivism rates of the youths who had received counseling services were compared to the recidivism rates of a control group that had not received counseling services.     

Reducing depression among at-risk early adolescents: three-year effects of a family-centered intervention embedded within schools

The Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) is a family-focused multilevel prevention program designed for delivery within public middle schools to target parenting factors related to the development of behavior problems in early adolescence. The current study examines the effects of the ATP on the development of youth depressive symptoms across early adolescence in a sample of 106 high-risk youths. Youths were recruited in 6th grade, and selected as high risk based on teacher and parent reports of behavioral or emotional problems. Depression symptoms were based on youth and mother reports in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Receipt of the family-centered intervention inhibited growth in depressive symptoms in high-risk youths over the 3 yearly assessments compared with symptoms in high-risk youths in the control group. Results support the notion that parental engagement in a program designed to improve parent management practices and parent-adolescent relationships can result in collateral benefits to the youths' depressive symptoms at a critical transition period of social and emotional development.     

Ethnographic Findings on West Indian-American Clients

Ethnographic data collected on 9 Black, male, West Indian-American youths yielded themes and rudimentary guides for the subsequent collection of a second set of data. Culturally relevant factors for counseling these youngsters were extricated from quasi-structured interviews conducted with the original 9 students, an additional 6 high school students, and 11 counselors. The major findings indicate that these students have strong taboos against seeking counseling. Also, their cultural background affects their career choices, and their biculturism induces conflict within their families. Implications for counseling are discussed.     

Professional Outreach Counseling Can Help the Juvenile Probationer: A Two Year Follow-up Study

Sixty-one subjects in a previously reported experimental evaluation of Project CREST were followed during a 2-year period after treatment and compared on official acts of misconduct. Over the 2 years, the 30 youths who had received the counseling services in addition to probation were charged with significantly fewer acts of misconduct at a lower monthly rate than the 31 youths in the control group who had received probation but no counseling. The upturn in offense rate among the control group was attributed to the removal of probationary control. The study's results, in conjunction with previous evaluation findings, indicated that short-term professional counseling coupled with probation can have more immediate and longer lasting effects than probation alone in reducing juvenile misconduct.     

TRAINING COUNSELING SKILLS: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND SOCIAL VALIDATION

A community development perspective suggests the value of using local resources to solve local problems. Two low-income staff of a community service center served as nonprofessional counselors after receiving a training program consisting of written instructions, practice, and performance feedback. The effects of the 40-hour training program were positive for both counseling and problem-solving skills. There was also evidence of generalization of counseling performance across clients, problems, and time. In addition, expert judges' ratings of performance were obtained as a measure of social validity. These findings suggest that the training procedures are effective in enhancing the counseling and problem-solving skills of low-income nonprofessionals.     

Individual Quality of Life Among at Risk Indigenous Youth in Australia

This paper reports the findings from a pilot study in which the Schedule for Individual Quality of Life (SEIQoL-DW) was used to determine how 15 at-risk Indigenous Australian male youths aged between 14 and 19 conceptualised their quality of life. The youths, who were referred with problems associated with drug and alcohol misuse and criminal activity, were attending a diversionary program run by an Indigenous organisation in the Northern Territory, Australia. Quality of life was measured before and at the end of the nine-day programme in order to evaluate outcomes. Program staff found the SEIQoL-DW to be particularly useful in identifying culturally specific quality of life domains, allowing interventions to focus on improving the life areas that were of particular value to individuals as well as recognizing any deficits in their understanding the options available to them. While a control group was not used, mean SEIQoL-DW scores increased significantly over the course of the program.     

Characteristics of residential care for adolescent offenders: A comparison of assumptions and practices in two models

Staff assumptions and program practices in two models of residential care for male adolescent offenders were compared. Group care settings had from 6 to 15 youths in residence and used peer-mediated treatments. Treatment Foster Care settings had one youngster placed in each home and treatments were adult-mediated. Results showed that group care and Treatment Foster Care program models differed on staff assumptions about therapeutic mechanisms of change, and different patterns of daily program practices were found.     

Counseling today's veterans: a program and its implications

The need for improved counseling and guidance services has emerged as one of the most crucial aspects in the myriad of problems faced by the Vietnam war era veteran. This article focuses on the interagency overseas counseling thrust launched by the federal government in 1971 and designed to mitigate the debilitating effects of the civilian reentry crisis experienced by veterans. The overseas counseling program of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, operating in Europe, the Far East, and Vietnam, was organized and formerly administered by the author and is highlighted here because of its implications for counseling and guidance.     

Sexuality and birth control: impact of outreach programming

If there is a safe place to be on campus, it is the counselor's office. No one except the client knows what is happening, and no one can be criticized for providing help to someone in need—unless, that is, one has a vision that problems are better prevented than solved. Outreach programming attempts to do just that: prevent problems from occurring. In a bold educational effort, Johnston assisted the health center and the counseling center at the University of Maine in cooperatively creating a campuswide sex education program that included seminars, appropriate physical examinations, and personal peer counseling. The program includes an evaluation component that has provided continuous data to be used for program reconstruction.     

Longitudinal Results of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Youths with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Depressive Symptoms

Youths with chronic physical illnesses face increased rates of psychological problems and the burden of coping with physical illness-related challenges. The following data describes treatment outcome maintenance results from a randomized clinical trial investigating the impact of a cognitive behavioral intervention Primary and Secondary Control Enhancement Therapy-Physical Illness (PASCET-PI) as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) on youths with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Forty-one participants aged 11-17 with IBD and concurrent depressive symptomatology were randomized to PASCET-PI (n?=?22) or TAU (n?=?19). Self-reported depressive features, global functioning, and DSM-IV depressive symptomatology were assessed immediately post-treatment (T2), followed by assessments at 6-months (T3) and 12-months (T4) post-treatment initiation. Repeated measure models revealed significantly improved global psychosocial functioning in youths randomized to PASCET-PI compared to youths randomized to TAU. Improvements in self-reported depressive features and DSM-IV depressive symptoms were found at the trend level for youths randomized to PASCET-PI relative to those receiving TAU. Effect size estimates for all outcome variables suggested large to medium treatment effects.     

Expression of Feelings in Group Counseling

70 high school students in 9 counseling groups were administered outcome instruments for self-evaluation and evaluation by peers. Interaction in counseling was classified according to underlying feeling early and late in the series of 12 sessions. Tests of 6 hypotheses relating feeling changes occurring during counseling to counseling outcomes showed 2 results significant at the .05 level. Change in feeling seemed to correlate more with evaluation by peers than with self-evaluation. The 9 groups were found to differ widely in type and amount of affective interaction. Methodological problems were considered. Discussion focused on implications for counseling practice and on relationships to published research.     

Is the Cogmed program effective for youths with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder under pharmacological treatment?

The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of the Cogmed training program on working memory among youths 7 to 13 years old, with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) type and comorbidity controlled for. A secondary objective was to examine the generalization of effects to ADHD symptoms, nonverbal reasoning, attentional and executive functions, inhibition, reading comprehension, and mathematical reasoning. Participants were under pharmacological treatment for ADHD combined type and a comorbidity. They were randomized into an experimental group that received the Cogmed program and an active control group that received a low-intensity comparison version of the training. They were evaluated at three time points: 6 weeks prior to intervention onset (T1), immediately prior to onset (T2), and 1 week following intervention completion (T3). Results indicate no significant effect attributable to the Cogmed program. The fact that participants were on medication at the time of training and evaluation normalized their performances and limited the detection of effects. Moreover, cognitive training did not lead to a reduction in ADHD symptoms or to an improvement in the other cognitive functions measured or in academic performance. The results of this study do not demonstrate the effectiveness of the Cogmed program for youths with ADHD combined type and a comorbidity when they receive the training while under pharmacological treatment.     

A case series of attention modification in clinically anxious youths

Research in the last fifteen years suggests that anxious individuals selectively attend towards threatening information. Attention modification interventions for internalizing adults have been developed to target cognition at this basic level; these programs have demonstrated initial efficacy in attention bias and anxiety symptom reduction. To date, there have been no published studies of attention modification in youths with clinical levels of anxiety. The current case series examined the initial efficacy of a four-week (12 sessions) attention modification program (AMP) designed to train attention away from threat in 16 children and adolescents (ages 10 to 17) diagnosed with DSM-IV anxiety disorders. Overall, youths experienced a significant decrease in anxiety and depression symptoms, and 12 of 16 youths no longer met criteria for any anxiety diagnosis at post-treatment. AMP was feasible with youths, and all youths and parents deemed the program acceptable. These findings provide support for further research on the use of cognitive bias modification interventions with clinically anxious youths.     

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY EMPLOYMENT SERVICE COUNSELING SUPERVISORS

Data from 24 counseling supervisors in the New York State Employment Service were obtained as part of an on-going training program. Small groups through spontaneous discussion presented problems that they wanted to solve. The data were classified and tabulated according to common content. The findings show that these supervisors were bothered primarily by organizational and interpersonal difficulties. Although also concerned with “job-task” problems, these represented a smaller proportion of their time involvement. Implications for management and training were discussed.     

Relation of Age of Onset to the Type and Severity of Child and Adolescent Conduct Problems

In a cross-sectional household sample of 9-through 17-year-old youths from 4 U.S. communities, youths with earlier ages of onset of conduct problems engaged in more conduct problems than youths with later ages of onset when current age and gender were controlled. Specifically, youths with earlier ages of onset were more likely to engage in several types of physical aggression, frequent lying, theft, and vandalism and were less likely to engage in only truancy. There also was an inverse relation between age of onset and level of functional impairment, mental health service use, and meeting diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. Within the limits of cross-sectional data, these results support the hypothesis that key aspects of the heterogeneity of conduct problems among youths are related to the age of onset of conduct problems.     

Moral Development and Hawaiian Youths: Does Gender Make a Difference?

This study was designed to assess the moral reasoning of Hawaiian youths. The findings challenge C. Gilligan's (1982) theoretical proposition that gender differences exist in moral development. Implications for counseling theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Life skills: Structured counseling for the disadvantaged

The difficult life problems of disadvantaged adults and adolescents are not easily resolved through traditional unstructured counseling methods. The Life Skills counseling program provides a structured means of helping disadvantaged groups acquire the necessary experience, knowledge, and skill to cope effectively with the psychosocial aspects of personal development, parenthood, and citizenship. Life Skills counseling employs a life problem-derived curriculum and a four-stage learning model which integrates counseling and teaching functions as it facilitates problem-solving through inductive and deductive modes of inquiry and application.     

Service Delivery and High School Peer Counseling Systems

Earlier rationales supporting peer counseling systems have emphasized possibilities of increased service delivery and innovative counseling models. An ongoing peer counseling program was studied through questionnaires administered to clients, teachers, the general student body, and peer counselors themselves. Specific attention was directed to numbers of students served. Distinctions between formal and informal counseling relationships and problem content areas are discussed. Results suggested the existence of two distinct service delivery systems. An informal system served large numbers of self-referred students and dealt primarily with personal-social problems. A formal system reached fewer students, relied upon staff referral, and addressed academic difficulties. Implications for the design of peer counselor programs with varying goals were discussed.     

Effects of Brief Interventions on Internalizing Symptoms and Substance Use in Youth: A Systematic Review

Internalizing problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) and substance use are common among young people and often co-occur. However, youths face myriad barriers to access needed treatment, and existing evidence-based interventions tend to focus on internalizing problems or substance use, rather than both simultaneously. Brief interventions that target both problems may, therefore, be an efficient and accessible resource for alleviating youth difficulties; however, this possibility has been insufficiently evaluated. This systematic review evaluated the intervention characteristics and quality of six studies spanning 2015 to 2019 that examined intervention effects on internalizing and substance use outcomes. Based on independent calculations and author reports (respectively), 3–4 interventions significantly reduced youth internalizing symptoms; 3–5 reduced youth substance use; and 2–3 reduced symptoms in both domains. All six interventions identified substance use as a primary target. Four interventions were administered by interventionists to youths in inpatient, outpatient, primary care, or school settings. The remaining two studies delivered content through voicemail messages or an online design. Interventions ranged from?~?15 to 240 min. Results highlight the sparsity and heterogeneity of youth-focused brief interventions that have evaluated program effects on both internalizing problems and substance use outcomes, suggesting a clear need for integrated supports that are also designed for accessibility. Future investigations of brief youth-focused interventions should assess program effects on both internalizing and substance use outcomes; examine mechanisms driving the varied efficacy of identified interventions; and create, refine, and test interventions with potential to address co-occurring internalizing problems and substance use in young people.