Research in Counseling

This column is based on the belief that research can provide meaningful data to the practicing counselor. While individual studies may not provide sufficient data on which to act, a combination of separate research efforts or a large-scale, long-term research project does have the possibility of providing sufficient data. This column will undertake to provide that data by either reviewing the current research in a specific area or examining the results from a long-term project. The emphasis will be on implications for the counselor, so there will be little if any information on research design or statistical procedures. Readers desiring more detail about a particular study should write directly to the original author(s). Readers who desire to have the results of their research and/or innovative approaches considered for review in this column should send the material to Richard W. Warner, Jr., Counselor Education, 2054 Haley Center, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36830.     

Research in Counseling

This column is based on the belief that research can provide meaningful data to the practicing counselor. While individual studies may not provide sufficient data on which to act, a combination of separate research efforts or a large-scale, long-term research project does have the possibility of providing sufficient data. This column will undertake to provide that data by either reviewing the current research in a specific area or examining the results from a long-term project. The emphasis will be on implications for the counselor, so there will be little if any information on research design or statistical procedures. Readers desiring more detail about a particular study should write directly to the original author(s). Readers who desire to have the results of their research and/or innovative approaches considered for review in this column should send the material to Richard W. Warner, Jr., Counselor Education, 2054 Haley Center, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36830.     

Research in Counseling

This column is based on the belief that research can provide meaningful data to the practicing counselor. While individual studies may not provide sufficient data on which to act, a combination of separate research efforts or a large-scale, long-term research project does have the possibility of providing sufficient data. This column will undertake to provide that data by either reviewing the current research in a specific area or examining the results from a long-term project. The emphasis will be on implications for the counselor, so there will be little if any information on research design or statistical procedures. Readers desiring more detail about a particular study should write directly to the original author(s). Readers who desire to have the results of their research and/or innovative approaches considered for review in this column should send the material to Richard W. Warner, Jr., Counselor Education, 2054 Haley Center, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36830.     

Research in Counseling

This column is based on the belief that research can provide meaningful data to the practicing counselor. While individual studies may not provide sufficient data on which to act, a combination of separate research efforts or a large-scale, long-term research project does have the possibility of providing sufficient data. This column will undertake to provide that data by either reviewing the current research in a specific area or examining the results from a long-term project. The emphasis will be on implications for the counselor, so there will be little if any information on research design or statistical procedures. Readers desiring more detail about a particular study should write directly to the original author(s). Readers who desire to have the results of their research and/or innovative approaches considered for review in this column should send the material to Richard W. Warner, Jr., Counselor Education, 2054 Haley Center, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36830.     

Does psychopathology predict counseling duration?

Many university counseling centers have adopted case management policies in an effort to conserve limited resources. Fearing that students with more severe problems will consume too many clinical resources, many counseling centers have decided to refer such students to external agencies or providers for mental health services. However, this fear might be unwarranted because empirical research has not shown a substantial relationship between psychopathology and counseling duration. This investigation examined whether a new treatment-planning inventory, the Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory, might be useful for better understanding the relationships between various problem areas and counseling duration. Participants were new clients (students and staff members) at a university counseling center in the southeastern USA. Professional staff members and graduate students in counselor education, clinical psychology, and clinical social work provided counseling services to the participants. Lower scores on several scales predicted counseling duration. In other words, clients with lower scores on these scales (representing less psychopathology) attended more counseling sessions than clients with greater psychopathology. Therapists' background also predicted counseling duration; clients who worked with either a professional staff member or graduate student in counselor education attended more sessions than clients who worked with a graduate student in clinical psychology. The results of this study, combined with previous research, suggest that measures of psychopathology are not very useful for identifying which clients will complete long-term counseling. Until better information becomes available, actuarial tables remain the most efficient means for predicting counseling duration.     

Genetic Counseling Practice in Next Generation Sequencing Research: Implications for the Ethical Oversight of the Informed Consent Process

The potential for next generation sequencing research (NGS) to generate individual genetic results could have implications for the informed consent process and the provision of genetic counseling. We undertook a content analysis of informed consent templates and guidelines produced by Canadian institutional review boards, purposively sampling documents used by researchers to obtain consent from participants in genetics studies. Our goal was to examine the extent to which the informed consent documents addressed genetic counseling and the return of individual genetic results. Our analysis reveals that the majority of informed consent documents did not mention genetic counseling while several did not mention the return of results. We found differences in the ways in which documents addressed availability of counseling, eligibility criteria for referral to a genetic counselor, genetic counselor involvement, provision of services to family members of participants and incidental findings. From an ethical standpoint, consent documents should provide appropriate information so that participants may make an informed decision about their participation in research. The need to ensure adequate counseling for study populations in an NGS research context will necessarily involve adapting values that underlie care in genetic counseling practice. If the interests of research participants are to be truly promoted, the drafting and review of informed consent documents should give proper due to genetic counseling.     

Subtyping stuttering I: a review

A reliable and practical subtype system of stuttering should enhance all related scientific work concerned with this disorder. Although a fair number of classification systems have been offered, to date, none has received wide recognition or has been routinely applied in research or clinical spheres. Whereas progress has been made in understanding and treating the disorder, for the most part stuttering continues to be viewed and addressed as a unitary problem. The objectives of the current article are to (a) highlight the motivation for identifying sub-types of stuttering, (b) outline the issues involved in researching subtypes, and (c) address the question of whether or not subtyping is plausible for this disorder. Toward these ends, a broad-based review of past concepts regarding subtypes of stuttering and stutterers is presented according to seven categories that reflect the various authors' conceptual or experimental approaches. Selected studies for each category are also presented to illustrate the research problems and challenges. It is concluded that islands of progress can be identified in subtype research, particularly in studies of children. It is recommended that future studies include multiple factors or domains in the data collection process, especially with young children during the formative years of the disorder, when substantial overlap in the development of several speech/language domains occurs. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: (a) Readers will be able to describe the theory and research concerning the numerous attempts to subtype stuttering, particularly during the past 50 years; (b) Readers will be able to explain the general issues that need to be resolved in order to identify subtypes as well as current and future research strategies aimed at achieving these goals.     

The School Change Feedback Process: Creating a New Role for Counselors in Education Reform

The authors present the results of a multiyear collaborative research project that involved a counselor educator, graduate‐level school counseling students, and school personnel in defining a new role for counselors in education reform. This collaborative effort was based on an innovative conceptual framework that informs school counselors about specific schooling processes that can either enhance or hinder student academic, personal/social, and career development.     

Introduction to the Technical Series: What is Science,and How Does It Help Us?*

Editor's Note: Readers trained in research have no need of a series of articles that introduce the value of the scientific method and the basic factors that comprise good research methodology. But readers who are primarily trained to do clinical work with families will find that today's healthcare environment increasingly requires that they be good consumers of research, as well as an increasing need for them to participate in studies of the models we wish to preserve. At a recent NIMH‐sponsored conference, a speaker lamented the probable demise of some of our more interesting family approaches because third‐party payers tend to support only evidence‐based interventions. Clearly, we need to be able to defend our practices, and understanding the value and essential components of scientific methodology and research studies is likely to become even more important in the future. This new series will attempt to provide an orientation for those of our readers who are interested. We welcome your response to these articles and your suggestions for future segments.     

Broverman's methodology reversed: assessing university students' perceptions of the gender-role characteristics of counselors

This study examined university students' perceptions of which gender-role characteristics described helpful counselors for 137 nonmajors from an introduction to counseling class. Using a modification of the Broverman, et al. method (1970) and a modified version of their Stereotype Questionnaire, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Participants indicated the characteristics of a helpful counselor, a helpful female counselor, or a helpful male counselor using 20 bipolar items of gender-role characteristics. t tests were applied to whether agreement of the pole considered most frequently was greater than chance (50%). Analysis indicated agreement on characteristics were most helpful in a counselor, and the direction of this agreement did not differ across the three conditions or as a function of participants' sex. Agreement was high for the individual gender-role characteristic items across conditions as two of 20 items showed significant differences. There was significantly more agreement that male counselors should not have their feelings easily hurt than female counselors and significantly less agreement that male counselors should be able to express tender feelings easily relative to a counselor of unspecified sex.     

Is There a Role for Publication Consultants and How Should Their Contribution be Recognized?

When a scientific paper, dissertation or thesis is published the author(s) have a duty to report who has contributed to the work. This recognition can take several forms such as authorship, relevant acknowledgments and by citing previous work. There is a growing industry where publication consultants will work with authors, research groups or even institutions to help get their work published, or help submit their dissertation/thesis. This help can range from proof reading, data collection, analysis (including statistics), helping with the literature review and identifying suitable journals/conferences. In this opinion article we question whether these external services are required, given that institutions should provide this support and that experienced researchers should be qualified to carry out these activities. If these services are used, we argue that their use should at least be made transparent either by the consultant being an author on the paper, or by being acknowledged on the paper, dissertation or thesis. We also argue that publication consultants should provide an annual return that details the papers, dissertations and thesis that they have consulted on.     

Choosing the Appropriate Design and Analysis of a Research Project

It is extremely important that the proper mental planning of a research project is considered before the data collection ever begins. Otherwise, problems may be encountered after the data have been collected and it may then be too late to correct them. This paper will explain some of the important considerations necessary in choosing an adequate design and analysis for a research project.     

Use of profanity in the counseling interview

Although profane language is used in the counseling interview by both clients and counselors, past research has focused on the counselor's use of profanity without considering whether the counselor is matching the language of the client. This research examined 160 college students' impressions of an audiotape of a female counselor who used profanity with either a male or female client who did or did not use profanity. In general, when the female counselor swore she was less likely to be sought for help. Further research is recommended.     

文本阅读双加工理论与实验证据

文本阅读信息加工过程研究一直是国内外心理学界高度重视和关注的领域, 形成了建构主义理论、最低限度假设理论和记忆基础文本加工理论等派别百家争鸣的局面。这些理论争议的焦点在于自然阅读是主动的、积极的、目标策略驱动的过程, 还是被动的、消极的、自动的过程。在全面总结国内外心理学界有关文本阅读的研究成果的基础上, 文本阅读双加工理论提出并对文本阅读的主要争议进行了整合。该理论的核心观点是文本的自然阅读过程是连贯阅读与焦点阅读的双加工过程。文本阅读中读者所阅读的材料特点不同, 引发的阅读信息加工活动也不同, 而不同性质的阅读过程, 又会引发不同的推理整合, 从而会建构不同类型的文本表征。文本阅读双加工理论已经形成了比较完整的理论框架, 并获得了很多实验证据的支持。当然, 文本阅读双加工理论作为一个新的理论, 其中的有些观点还需要进一步检验。在未来的文本阅读研究领域, 有很多问题还需要研究者进一步关注。     

Only time will tell – why temporal information is essential for our neuroscientific understanding of semantics

Theoretical developments about the nature of semantic representations and processes should be accompanied by a discussion of how these theories can be validated on the basis of empirical data. Here, I elaborate on the link between theory and empirical research, highlighting the need for temporal information in order to distinguish fundamental aspects of semantics. The generic point that fast cognitive processes demand fast measurement techniques has been made many times before, although arguably more often in the psychophysiological community than in the metabolic neuroimaging community. Many reviews on the neuroscience of semantics mostly or even exclusively focus on metabolic neuroimaging data. Following an analysis of semantics in terms of the representations and processes involved, I argue that fundamental theoretical debates about the neuroscience of semantics can only be concluded on the basis of data with sufficient temporal resolution. Any “semantic effect” may result from a conflation of long-term memory representations, retrieval and working memory processes, mental imagery, and episodic memory. This poses challenges for all neuroimaging modalities, but especially for those with low temporal resolution. It also throws doubt on the usefulness of contrasts between meaningful and meaningless stimuli, which may differ on a number of semantic and non-semantic dimensions. I will discuss the consequences of this analysis for research on the role of convergence zones or hubs and distributed modal brain networks, top-down modulation of task and context as well as interactivity between levels of the processing hierarchy, for example in the framework of predictive coding.     

Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Applied to School Counseling

Aspects of Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance were partially integrated with a Rogerian type of orientation to school counseling. Festinger's term “dissonance” was presented as complementary to Rogers' term “incongruence.” A number of counselor activities were derived from the two complementary orientations which, if employed, would seem to enhance the probability of a self-directed change occurring within the student. These included such activities as the school counselor attempting to: (a) provide an accepting non-threatening atmosphere; (b) assist students or counselees in developing sufficient dissonance; (c) have his counselees inform significant others (teachers, parents, or peers) of the outcomes or decisions they arrived at during the counseling process (public commitment).