Transitional Adolescents,Anxiety, and Group Counseling

One hundred-eighty college-bound high school seniors were studied to determine whether small group counseling would affect their anxiety level. 60 students comprised the experimental group and 60 students each the 2 control groups. 6 small group counseling sessions were conducted during the spring just prior to high school graduation and 6 more in the fall, following college enrollment. Comparison of anxiety levels was made at the conclusion of each series of counseling sessions. The students of the experimental group showed significantly lower anxiety scores than did those of the control groups, both in the spring and in the fall. The conclusion was drawn that experience in small group counseling was followed by significantly lower levels of anxiety in transitional adolescents.     

Case Study: Summer Counseling with Disadvantaged Junior High School Students

Six secondary school counselors worked as a summer counseling team with disadvantaged junior high school students. Most of the students who received counseling were making a transition from a familiar to an unfamiliar school situation, i.e., they were entering or leaving junior high school. Counseling sessions were conducted in homes as well as in the schools. Extensive use was made of staff sessions and referral agencies. The services of the counseling team were favorably accepted by students and parents and were evaluated by the counselors and principals as worthwhile. Some problems and recommendations are described.     

Client Reaction to Counselor's Use of Self-Experience

This study sought to determine if counselor use of self-experience may be useful in increasing self-confidence, self-disclosure, perceived genuineness, and empathic understanding. Volunteer graduate students in education interested in participating in a series of group counseling sessions structured to deal with problems of the graduate student were used in this study. 30 graduate students were divided into 6 groups of 5 each. 3 groups were experimental groups and 3 groups were control groups. In the control groups self-experience examples were not used by the counselor, but in the experimental groups they were used extensively. Questionnaires, taped sessions, and post-counseling interviews were used in evaluation of results. The experimental groups perceived the counseling relationship as less genuine than the control groups. The results of the study did not support the use of counselor self-experience examples in group counseling.     

Parental socialization of mental health in Chinese American families: What parents say and do,and how youth make meaning

Parental mental health socialization is a process by which parents shape how youth develop and maintain beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding mental health and help-seeking behaviors. Although culture shapes parental mental health socialization, few studies have examined specific parental socialization practices regarding mental health and help-seeking, especially as a culturally anchored process. Using a qualitative approach, this study explores youth-reported parental socialization of mental health within Chinese American families by examining focus group data from 69 Chinese American high school and college students. Findings revealed that youth received parental messages that conveyed culturally anchored conceptualizations of mental health that included stigmatized views of mental illness and perceptions of mental distress as not a legitimate problem. Parents responded to youth distress in culturally consonant ways: by encouraging culturally specific coping methods, dismissing or minimizing distress, or responding with silence. Youth engaged in the active interpretation of parental messages through cultural brokering, bridging the gap between their parents’ messages and mainstream notions of mental health and help-seeking. Overall, our findings point to the significant role of culture in parental mental health socialization in Chinese American families and the need to integrate culturally specific understandings of mental health into future interventions for Asian American youth.     

Guidance program for a ghetto school

High school students from the ghetto have special problems that often need more attention than mere talk. Many students lose all sense of personal motivation and worth, for example, due to overcrowded conditions or teacher conflicts in the school, or lack of money or parental guidance outside of school. To help students find concrete solutions to their problems, a new guidance program is suggested for the ghetto school, and the Center for Personal Advancement, now in effect at a Philadelphia high school, is offered as one example.     

Peering into a Chilean Black Box: Parental Storytelling in Pediatric Genetic Counseling

While genetic counseling has expanded to multiple international settings, research about providing culturally sensitive services to non-U.S. patients is limited. To gain insights, we utilized a process study to explore parental communication in pediatric genetics clinics in Chile. We utilized a phenomenological hermeneutic approach to assess storytelling in six pediatric sessions that were conducted in Spanish, and translated into English. The majority of the sessions focused on information gathering (35 %), and providing medical (20 %) and genetics education (18 %). The 14 instances of storytelling we identified usually emerged during information gathering, genetics education, and the closing of the session. Stories illustrated parental efforts to create a cognitive and emotional context for their child’s genetic diagnosis. Parents emerged as competent caregivers who discussed the role of the child as a social being in the family and the larger community. Our analysis found that genetic counseling sessions in the U.S. and Chile are structured similarly and although communication is not a balanced process, parents use storytelling to participate as active agents in the session. Via storytelling, we learned that parents are working to understand and gain control over their child’s genetic diagnosis by relying on mechanisms that extend beyond the genetics appointment.     

Effects of an early reading intervention based on grapho-syllabic decoding and fluency training in French elementary schools

IntroductionStudies conducted in recent decades have led to the development of instructional interventions to help prevent or eliminate a large proportion of reading difficulties. However, few experiments have been conducted in French schools.ObjectiveAims for this research were to create, implement and evaluate a remediation program for French students with reading difficulties up to the end of elementary school.MethodThis paper examines the effects of a decoding-skills and fluency-based intervention on 133 struggling readers in second- to fifth-grade. Depending on the nature of their reading difficulties, students were given a year-long training based either on grapho-syllabic conversion — focusing on syllable units, rather than phonemic units, is considered a promising way of helping French-speaking beginning readers — or on repeated reading techniques, used to improve fluency.ResultsIncreases in written-word identification scores were greater for students who followed the program than they were for a control group of 184 students with reading difficulties who did not follow the program.ConclusionThe results show that programs combining early evaluation of written-word identification abilities followed by a year-long series of remediation sessions focusing on specific difficulties can help students progress in written-word identification. However, further research is needed to examine why our program was less effective with children from disadvantaged (“éducation prioritaire”) areas.     

Group sessions for postgraduate students

Three group sessions were run for postgraduate students. These showed that the students wanted a close personal relationship with their supervisors, and that they often had little idea of what their research work involved. The students were shocked by the difference between their own attitudes and the supervisors'. Simple group work did much to help.     

Enriching the Genetic Counseling Recruitment Pipeline: A National Cross-Sectional Study of Public High School Counselors

Early awareness of careers is helpful in recruiting students into a career pipeline. School counselors are among the top resources that students turn to when seeking advice about choosing their career. Studies show that high school is the ideal time to generate interest in the genetic counseling career, especially for minorities. This novel study of 291 high school counselors working in ethnically diverse public school districts in the United States examined to what extent members of this important group discuss genetic counseling as a career option with their students. The findings indicate that the majority of school counselors in this study (83%) did not discuss genetic counseling with their students, citing a lack of resources and lack of student interest as the major barriers. Suggestions of ways to increase high school counselors’ awareness of the genetic counseling career in order to enhance the goal of enriching recruitment of ethnic minorities into the genetic counseling pipeline are presented.     

Contributing Factors to Early Premature Termination at a College Counseling Center

The authors investigated the relationships between clients' early premature termination of counseling and ratings of their counselors' expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness and the extent to which clients believed that they were understood by their counselors. A follow-up survey was conducted to assess the clients' reasons for terminating prematurely. Participants were 148 students who sought individual counseling at a university counseling center. The two groups did not differ on the variables investigated. Most of the participants who terminated prematurely reported that they did so because they did not have time for further sessions, did not need further sessions, or forgot their appointments.     

Comparison of two group counseling approaches to enhancing confidence in planning careers by undecided Taiwanese college women

This is a report of research comparing two approaches to enhance the career confidence of undecided female college students. 30 women who requested enrollment in career counseling were assigned to two counseling groups (a cognitive reconstructing intervention group and a career decision-making skills training group) and one no-treatment control group based on time of request. After participating in the two career counseling groups for eight sessions in a month, the female college students rated their mean confidence as increased over that of the no-treatment group. Analysis indicated that the indecisive female college students benefitted from career group counseling with an emphasis on self-efficacy and that the cognitive reconstructing intervention was more effective.     

英语语法规则获得与迁移的智力技能研究

选取451名高中生为被试,以强调句型语法为研究内容,采取教师教学、产生式规则和专家思维编制的实验材料,探讨了英语语法规则获得早、中期阶段促进规则获得的手段。在前面实验的基础上,选取298名高中生,以定语从句为研究内容,运用产生式规则、专家思维和练习编制的不同学习材料,采取随机区组设计,探讨了英语语法规则获得后期阶段的智力技能研究。通过研究得到如下结论：在语法规则获得的早中期阶段,产生式样例有助于学生智力技能的获得,同时也有助于所获得技能的迁移;在智力技能获得的后期阶段,专家样例有利于学生形成专家头脑中的图式,有助于学生实现有关智力技能的自动化。     

团体音乐辅导提高地震灾区初中生心理弹性的研究

目的：考查团体音乐辅导对提高地震灾区初中生心理弹性的效果。方法：选取心理弹性较低的地震灾区初中生22名,随机分入干预组和控制组,对干预组进行团体音乐辅导。结果：后测结果表明,与控制组相比,干预组被试的心理弹性及其相关因素指标均有显著改善;两个月后的回访结果显示,干预组被试得分与后测无显著差异,仍显著优于前测。结论：团体音乐辅导能够有效地提高地震灾区初中生的心理弹性水平,并具有一定的长效性。     

Wisconsin's Research-Through-Service Program for Superior High School Students

The Research and Guidance Laboratory for Superior Students was organized at the University of Wisconsin in 1957 to conduct longitudinal research-through-service for superior high school students. It currently involves 2,000 young people from 75 Wisconsin secondary schools. Each year faculties of cooperating schools use multiple criteria to select new ninth-grade participants. Selected students visit the Laboratory annually throughout high school for evaluation, testing, counseling, and visits to classes and professors in fields of their choice. After students come to the University, Laboratory staff members visit their schools to interview parents and meet with teachers. Laboratory activities generate many research questions concerning identification, guidance, and educational and vocational development of superior students. It is intended to continue research and follow-up of Laboratory subjects for many years after they leave high school.     

Effects of Anxiety on Novice Genetic Counseling Students’ Experience of Supervised Clinical Rotations

Supervised clinical experiences with patients comprise a critical component of genetic counseling student education. Previous research has found genetic counseling students tend to be more anxiety prone than the general population, and anxiety related to supervision has been found in genetic counseling and related fields. The present study investigated how anxiety affects the experience of supervision for genetic counseling students. Second year genetic counseling students were invited to participate through email invitations distributed via training directors of the 33 programs accredited at the time of the study by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. An initial online survey contained the trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to estimate anxiety proneness in this population and an invitation to participate in a 45-minute semi-structured phone interview focusing on students’ experiences of supervision during their clinical rotations. High and low trait anxiety groups were created using STAI scores, and the groups’ interview responses were compared using consensual qualitative research methodology (CQR; Hill 2012). The high anxiety group was more likely to describe problematic supervisory relationships, appreciate the supervisor’s ability to help them when they get stuck in sessions, and feel their anxiety had a negative effect on their performance in general and in supervision. Common themes included supervisors’ balancing support and guidance, the importance of feedback, ego-centric responses, and supervisors as focal points. The results of the present study are largely consistent with current literature. Further research findings and research, practice, and training recommendations are provided.     

The Non-Achievement Syndrome,Group Therapy,and Achievement Change

174 selected failing students at Illinois Institute of Technology were provided group counseling as a condition of their remaining in school. The assumption of the psychodynamics of the non-achievement syndrome was made regarding these students and a group counseling approach (NAS therapy) derived from an approach delineated by Roth and Meyersburg seemed appropriate and was utilized. 52 male subjects in this population were randomly selected for study as were 52 probationary, noncounseled males who were used as a comparison group. The results indicated that the counseled group increased their GPA's significantly and that these changes held over time. The GPA's of the comparison group did not increase significantly. The differences were attributable to the counseling experience.     

父母学业参与和高中生消极情绪的关系：亲子关系的中介作用以及父母心理控制的调节作用

目的：本研究旨在探究父母学业参与和学生消极情绪的关系及作用机制。方法：本研究对1569名上海高中生进行问卷调查,学生填写学业参与量表、心理控制量表、亲子关系量表和消极情绪评估量表。结果：（1）父母学业参与和学生的消极情绪负相关;（2）父母学业参与可通过提高亲子关系质量从而减少学生的消极情绪;（3）父母心理控制调节父母学业参与和亲子关系质量、父母学业参与和消极情绪之间的关系。结论：父母积极参与子女学业并减少对子女的心理控制,将更有利于形成良好的亲子关系和减少消极情绪。     

John A. Snyder

Conclusion Wise counseling can relieve the anxiety and inner conflict of parents torn between the dread of their retarded offspring becoming a parent and the fear of an operation they believe to be illegal, immoral, and castrating.By knowing where to refer patients, clergymen can make it possible for some of these deprived members of society to find support and love within marriage without being overburdened by children they are not capable of rearing properly.     

Reviews of current books

Conclusion Wise counseling can relieve the anxiety and inner conflict of parents torn between the dread of their retarded offspring becoming a parent and the fear of an operation they believe to be illegal, immoral, and castrating.By knowing where to refer patients, clergymen can make it possible for some of these deprived members of society to find support and love within marriage without being overburdened by children they are not capable of rearing properly.