Child Group Psychotherapy in the School at the Threshold of a New Millennium

This article reviews existing studies in child group interventions, including educational, counseling, and psychotherapy groups. It highlights both outcome and process research, regarding the different types of groups, and offers implications for practitioners as well as for future research.     

Accountability Through Action Research: Research Methods for Practitioners

This article summarizes how outcome research methodologies can be incorporated into counseling practice in many settings. Performing an outcome study can assist counselors in evaluating their own effectiveness. In addition, more field-based studies can contribute to the empirical knowledge base. An overview of the steps involved in an outcome or evaluative study is discussed, and a summary is provided of instruments and techniques for research in mental health counseling, career counseling, and school counseling.     

Using movies in pastoral counseling

This article uses a case study of a bereaved woman to illustrate the potential benefits of using movies as an adjunctive therapy in pastoral counseling. The article also references the literature on bibliotherapy and cinematherapy while summarizing relevant findings from studies for the use of movies in clinical practice. This article offers both suggestions and cautions for practitioners. At this time, research suggests that a considered therapeutic use of movies can be beneficial for personal growth.     

Morality and Adult Attachment Style as Predictors of Psychotherapy Process and Outcome Expectations

This study examined whether moral foundations and adult attachment style predict expectations for counseling. Hierarchical regression models were used to analyze self‐report questionnaires of 963 participants. Moral foundations related to harm–care, fairness–reciprocity, and authority–respect were significantly positively related to both process and outcome counseling expectations. Adult attachment anxiety was positively related to outcome expectations, whereas adult attachment avoidance was negatively related to process and outcome expectations. Moral foundations and adult attachment style are important predictors of therapy process and outcome expectations. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.     

Experiences of Healing Touch and Counseling on a Bereaved Population: A Grounded Theory

Grounded theory was selected as a way to develop a theory about the potential adjunctive use of energy healing in the form of healing touch (HT) along with counseling on a bereaved population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted twice with clients and once with the counselors and HT practitioners. Results indicated that the participants agreed that both counseling and HT operated well together to provide bereavement support. The themes of trust, openness, intention, and spirituality within the holistic context seemed to make this model possible. Potential ethical concerns are discussed, as well as areas for future research and clinical applications.     

lay psychology books as an aid to counseling

Counseling literature is replete with research articles and position papers that attempt to draw sharp dichotomies between various counseling theories and techniques. Yet counseling strategies employed by practitioners have, by necessity, often been the result of subjective observation and intuition. In this article the author discusses a “common sense” technique—the use of lay psychology books—and proposes guidelines for use of the procedure as a viable counseling strategy.     

career development practitioners as advocates for transgender individuals: understanding gender transition

Assisting transgender individuals is a concern for career development practitioners because there is a lack of knowledge on this topic. The complexity of gender reassignment surgery brings challenges and unique needs to this population, throughout gender transition, and requires career development practitioners to understand these challenges and needs to provide appropriate services to transgender individuals. The author conducted a comprehensive review of the literature in the areas of transgender issues in career development and counseling, counseling transgender individuals, gender transition, and multicultural counseling competencies. The role of career development practitioners as advocates for transgender individuals who experience gender transition is discussed.     

A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials to Assess Outcomes of Genetic Counseling

With the advancements in precision medicine and health care reform, it is critical that genetic counseling practice respond to emerging evidence to maximize client benefit. The objective of this review was to synthesize evidence on outcomes from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of genetic counseling to inform clinical practice. Seven databases were searched in conducting this review. Studies were selected for inclusion if they were: (a) RCTs published from 1990 to 2015, and (b) assessed a direct outcome of genetic counseling. Extracted data included study population, aims, and outcomes. Risk of bias was evaluated using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions guidelines. A review of 1654 abstracts identified 58 publications of 54 unique RCTs that met inclusion criteria, the vast majority of which were conducted in cancer genetic counseling setting. Twenty-seven publications assessed ‘enhancements’ to genetic counseling, and 31 publications compared delivery modes. The methodological rigor varied considerably, highlighting the need for attention to quality criteria in RCT design. While most studies assessed several client outcomes hypothesized to be affected by genetic counseling (e.g., psychological wellbeing, knowledge, perceived risk, patient satisfaction), disparate validated and reliable scales and other assessments were often used to evaluate the same outcome(s). This limits opportunity to compare findings across studies. While RCTs of genetic counseling demonstrate enhanced client outcomes in a number of studies and pave the way to evidence-based practice, the heterogeneity of the research questions suggest an important need for more complementary studies with consistent outcome assessments.     

Assessing Adolescent and Adult Attachment: A Review of Current Self-Report Measures

Increased interest in attachment theory among counseling researchers and practitioners has led to the development of several measures of attachment-related constructs. Following a brief overview of the theoretical foundations of attachment theory as conceptualized by Ainsworth (1989) and Bowlby (1988), the authors of this article review four self-report measures of adolescent and adult attachment. Many considerations for the selection and use of these instruments in future counseling research and assessment are discussed.     

Nature, decay, and spiraling of the effects of fear-inducing arguments and HIV counseling and testing: a meta-analysis of the short- and long-term outcomes of HIV-prevention interventions.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the long-term efficacy of both fear-inducing arguments and HIV counseling and testing at encouraging and maintaining knowledge about HIV transmission and prevention, as well as condom use. DESIGN: Analyses were conducted with a sample of 150 treatment groups and 34 controls and included measures of change at an immediate follow-up and a delayed follow-up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures were perceived risk of HIV infection, knowledge about HIV, and condom use. RESULTS: Results indicated that receiving fear-inducing arguments increased perceptions of risk at the immediate follow-up but decreased knowledge and condom use, whereas resolving fear via HIV counseling and testing decreased perceptions of risk and increased knowledge and condom use at both the immediate and delayed follow-ups. The effects on perceived risk [corrected] decreased over time, but the effects on knowledge [corrected] condom use became more pronounced. CONCLUSION: Inducing fear is not an effective way to promote HIV-relevant learning or condom use either immediately following the intervention or later on. However, HIV counseling and testing can provide an outlet for HIV-related anxiety and, subsequently, gains in both knowledge and behavior change immediately and longitudinally.     

A test of the validity of the motivational interviewing treatment integrity code

To evaluate the Swedish version of the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Code (MITI), MITI coding was applied to tape-recorded counseling sessions. Construct validity was assessed using factor analysis on 120 MITI-coded sessions. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing MITI coding of motivational interviewing (MI) sessions with information- and advice-giving sessions as well as by comparing MI-trained practitioners with untrained practitioners. A principal-axis factoring analysis yielded some evidence for MITI construct validity. MITI differentiated between practitioners with different levels of MI training as well as between MI practitioners and advice-giving counselors, thus supporting discriminant validity. MITI may be used as a training tool together with supervision to confirm and enhance MI practice in clinical settings. MITI can also serve as a tool for evaluating MI integrity in clinical research.     

A Test of the Validity of the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code

To evaluate the Swedish version of the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Code (MITI), MITI coding was applied to tape‐recorded counseling sessions. Construct validity was assessed using factor analysis on 120 MITI‐coded sessions. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing MITI coding of motivational interviewing (MI) sessions with information‐ and advice‐giving sessions as well as by comparing MI‐trained practitioners with untrained practitioners. A principal‐axis factoring analysis yielded some evidence for MITI construct validity. MITI differentiated between practitioners with different levels of MI training as well as between MI practitioners and advice‐giving counselors, thus supporting discriminant validity. MITI may be used as a training tool together with supervision to confirm and enhance MI practice in clinical settings. MITI can also serve as a tool for evaluating MI integrity in clinical research.     

Counseling Adult Males

This article suggests that counselors must examine their own gender-role issues, become aware of the body of knowledge about men which is emerging in the literature, examine the implications of that literature on counseling men, and develop an effective approach to counseling men. The author presents a counseling focus on male gender-role issues similar to a decision model for counseling and explores the use of that focus for both counseling and research with adult males.     

ADJUSTING SALES RESULTS MEASURES FOR USE AS CRITERIA

The use of objective criterion measures in validation research raises the issue of criterion contamination. Several methods of treating sales measures in the empirical keying of a biodata instrument are compared. The relative contaminating effects of local economic conditions and company factors are evaluated. This study is an example of how practitioners can use their knowledge about the selection context to develop acceptable criterion norming strategies.     

Practitioners' Value-Orientation: Examination of Core Values and Influence of Theoretical Orientation

Examining Kluckhohn's Value-Orientation Model applied to counseling practitioners, the author hypothesized that practitioners would (a) endorse alternatives within value-orientations according to their counseling orientation, and (b) as a group, endorse certain alternatives within value-orientations over others. One hundred and nineteen practitioners who identified themselves as either cognitive-behavioral, psychoanalytic, humanistic, or family-systems oriented completed the Intercultural Values Inventory (Carter & Helms, 1990). Repeated measures analyses of variance failed to find between-group differences examining theoretical orientation, but found that practitioners, as a group, endorsed certain alternatives within value-orientations over others, and these reflected humanistic values. The lack of differences between counseling orientations, the idea of a practitioner culture, limitations, and future research are discussed.     

The Gap Between Science and Practice: How Therapists Make Their Clinical Decisions

Recent surveys have found that many patients are not receiving empirically supported treatments and that therapists may not update their knowledge of research. Studies have found that therapists prefer to use their clinical experience rather than research findings to improve their practice, although cognitive behavioral (CB) practitioners have been found to use research more frequently than therapists of other theoretical orientations. The organization in which therapists work has been shown to impact attitudes toward working practices, but studies have not examined whether workplace requirements to use research affect therapists’ practice. Studies to date have mainly been conducted in North America. These findings may not be generalizable to the United Kingdom where there is a National Health Service (NHS), which requires the use of empirically supported treatments. The first part of this study aimed to investigate which factors were influential in therapists’ choice of theoretical orientation and to see whether CB practitioners differed from other therapists in the factors that influenced their choice of theoretical orientation. The second part tested whether therapists’ theoretical orientation or their workplace influenced the frequency with which they used research in their clinical decision-making. The final part investigated whether being a CB practitioner or working in the NHS was associated with having a favorable attitude toward research. An online survey was sent to 4,144 psychological therapists in England; 736 therapists responded (18.5%). Therapists reported that research had little influence over their choice of theoretical orientation and clinical decision-making compared to other factors, specifically clinical experience and supervision. CB practitioners and NHS therapists, regardless of their orientation, were significantly more likely to use research than other therapists and were more likely to have a positive attitude toward research.     

Genomic Testing: a Genetic Counselor’s Personal Reflection on Three Years of Consenting and Testing

Whole exome sequencing (WES) is increasingly used in research and clinical genetics as the cost of sequencing decreases and the interpretation improves. Genetic counselors need to be prepared to counsel a diverse patient population for this complex test. This commentary is a reflection of one genetic counselor’s experiences in counseling, consenting, and returning results for clinical and research WES for over 120 participants and patients. She reflects on how she overcame the initial challenges and concerns of counseling for WES and how her counseling evolved from a teaching based counseling model to an interactive patient-center counseling model. Her insights are offered to prepare other genetic counselors for the growing use of genomic testing.     

A 40‐Year Review of Multicultural Counseling Outcome Research: Outlining a Future Research Agenda for the Multicultural Counseling Movement

This study represents a 40‐year review of multicultural counseling outcome research that has been done in the mental health professions. Particular attention is directed to the outcomes that ensue from counseling situations that are composed of counselors and clients from different racial/cultural backgrounds and identities in individual, group, and family counseling settings. Recommendations are presented for the next decade of multicultural counseling outcome research.     

心理咨询过程-效果研究现状及展望

心理咨询过程-效果研究考察咨询过程变量对咨询效果的影响。以人为中心流派、认知流派、行为流派、精神分析流派等都为该研究领域提供了理论基础。主要研究内容有咨询师的反应方式、会谈中的当事人行为、工作同盟、会谈中的重要内容等过程变量与效果的关系。该领域积累的成果还不多,这可能与过程-效果关系本身的复杂性有关,同时研究方法尚有许多欠缺,如考察复杂关系时使用的研究设计过于简单、测量工具不统一导致结果难以比较,有些测量工具不成熟信效度不高。未来的研究除了努力克服这些问题外,还应多考虑理论构建、内隐变量的调节和中介作用、当事人变量,在研究方法上应更为综合和多样化     

Racism and White Counselor Training: Influence of White Racial Identity Theory and Research

White counselors currently and in the future are projected to constitute the majority of counseling practitioners. In a racist and culturally diverse society, White counseling students need to learn to effectively counsel racially diverse clients. In this article, the inclusion of awareness, knowledge, and skills around racism and racial identity development is discussed as critical to counselor training programs with White counseling students. Intentional and strategic efforts to assist White counseling students recognize their personal racial identity and privileges of racism are presented as tools to assist the counseling profession to reduce the perpetuation of racist attitudes and racism.