Contingency management and human relations workshops: A school intervention program

Because there will never be enough school psychological personnel to handle adequately the number of currently existing school adjustment problems, the Broward Country, Florida, school psychological service is developing preventive and positive mental health programs. This paper describes one such program, an in-service training workshop offered to school personnel. The workshop is based on the rationale that classroom management techniques and interpersonal relationships are two key variables in promoting optimal academic progress and personal-social development. Two psychologists conducted three-week workshops in one school at a time, spending about 50% of their working time in the given school during the three-week period. Evaluation of the program is discussed in terms of tangible evidence of implementation of ideas and techniques presented in the workshop, and in terms of demand for the workshop.     

School psychologists as perceived by school personnel: Support for a consultant model

Questionaires distributed by 12 school psychologists to school personnel with whom they had been consulting for six months were completed and returned by 73 teachers, counselors, and principals. The information provided by the respondents indicated the frequencies with which the school psychologists engaged in consulting and child study activities, the school personnel's evaluations of nine different school psychologist skills, and the preferences of the respondents for the different school psychologist functions in their schools. The data showed that: (1) school psychologists were doing more consulting than evaluations of individual children, (2) school personnel tended to perceive their psychologists as cooperative, knowledgeable, and skillful, though relatively inefficient and undependable, and (3) school personnel preferred consulting activities to psychometric activities. It was concluded that the consultant model had been shown to be operative and that it was more highly valued than the psychometric model by the consumers of psychological services.     

Peer counseling in an urban high school setting

Peer counseling, an educational strategy in which students counsel and help facilitate the growth and development of other students, was implemented in an urban high school. Auniors and seniors, selected for their high leadership and character traits, participated in the 32-session training program. The training program focused on five areas: team building and the development of group cohesion; development of understanding and awareness of self and others; development of more effective communication skills; development of effective feedback procedures; and development of leadership, problem solving, and intervention skills. Lectures, task exercises, simulated problem situations, role-playing group discussions, expressive and creative activities, and audio-visual aids were employed for the dissemination of information. Peer counselors were assigned between five and 10 students for counseling for approximately nine weeks. In general, the counseless gained an ability to relate more effectively with both peers and adults and in problem solving and communication skills.     

Advancing career counseling and employment support for survivors: an intervention evaluation

The purpose of this research was to conduct a replication-based and extension study examining the effectiveness of a 5-week career group counseling intervention, Advancing Career Counseling and Employment Support for Survivors (ACCESS; Chronister, 2008). The present study was conducted in a markedly different geographic region within a larger community as compared with the original investigation conducted by Chronister and McWhirter (2006). Women survivors of intimate partner violence (N = 73) participated in ACCESS, with career-search self-efficacy, perceived career barriers, perceived career supports, anxiety, and depression assessed at preintervention, postintervention, and 8-week follow-up. Women survivors demonstrated significant improvements in career-search self-efficacy and perceived career barriers at postintervention. Moreover, these same improvements were maintained at the 8-week follow-up assessment with the addition of significant improvements in perceived future financial supports, anxiety, and depression compared with preintervention scores. This work replicates the initial findings regarding the effectiveness of ACCESS with respect to career-search self-efficacy (Chronister & McWhirter, 2006) as well as extends the initial research to include improvements in perceived career barriers and perceived career supports. Moreover, the present study extends the work to include the mental health outcomes of anxiety and depression; results demonstrated improvements in these areas at 8-week follow-up. This investigation begins to fill a critical need for evaluated career-focused interventions for the underserved population of women survivors of intimate partner violence.     

Telephone counseling and crisis intervention: A review

The empirical research pertaining to the effectiveness of telephone counseling and referral systems personnel was critically reviewed. The assessment was organized according to several evaluation strategies that researchers have utilized to evaluate effectiveness. These strategies included, for example, client self-reports, client "shows" versus "no-shows" following referral, data pertaining to suicide rates, counselor ratings of personal effectiveness, and phone workers' ability to offer empathy to clients. It was concluded that discussions of effectiveness should be constrained by a careful consideration of the specific index of efficacy chosen by investigators as well as methodological issues associated with current research in this area. There is reason to believe that the availability of telephone crisis services may be related to reduced suicide rates among young white females. Also, there is a significant need to empirically associate counseling technique and indices of effectiveness with substantive measures of client outcome in future research. Additional topics reviewed include the probable differential effectiveness of lay workers with various presenting problems of clients, and the role that training and maturity seem to play in successful interventions. Guidelines for the use of evaluation techniques which coincide with service goals are also offered.     

A transcontextual model for intervention with problems of school underachievement

Abstract

This paper presents a transcontextual model for intervening with families of underachieving school children. Following a brief review of the literature, the model is presented with specific guidelines for implementation. Finally, the results of a pilot study, using this model, indicate an improvement of general school functioning and of grade point averages in 81.3% of those surveyed in the study.     

Cramer's model of willingness to seek counseling: a structural equation model for counseling students

The author tested how well K. M. Cramer's model of willingness to seek counseling fit for master's level counseling students. Counseling students (N = 519) from across the United States completed a survey. Using structural equation modeling, the author found that Cramer's model fit with counseling students. Counseling students were most likely to report being willing to seek counseling if they had a positive attitude toward counseling, low level of self-concealment, high level of distress, and low social support.     

Misapplication of therapy models to school counseling

For a considerable time professionals engaged in school counseling have borrowed heavily from psychotherapeutic models in an attempt to find a theory and techniques viable in a school context. A number of factors, however, cast doubt on the applicability of any psychotherapeutic design to this setting. Among these factors are the structure of the school, training programs for school counselors, administrative attitudes, the involuntary nature of much school counseling, the limitations of time, educational objectives, the transitoriness of school counseling, and the irregularity of counseling contacts. Many psychotherapeutic models are at odds or even totally incongruent with educational objectives. Alternatives and options for generating theory and monitoring research are examined.     

A comparison of diagnostic labeling by school psychologists and psychiatric personnel

This study compared judgments regarding deviant child behavior made by 14 school psychologists with those made by 15 psychiatric personnel from a previous study in order to determine whether the law of parsimony is utilized in attaching labels. It was found that the school psychologist's behavior in attaching labels to deviant child behavior is diametrically opposite that of psychiatric personnel; school psychologists tend to be more attracted to the less complex labels and/or interpretation impressions.     

Teaching oddity and insertion to Head Start children: An economical cognitive intervention

Two interventions were offered to Head Start preschoolers. Half of the children played numerous learning set games designed to teach the children (1) the oddity principle and (2) how to insert objects into a series. Mastery of these concepts is theoretically an important aspect of school readiness. The other half of the children engaged in the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) exercises, a program designed to increase the children's competency in recognizing and responding to other people's feelings. The children who played the learning set games became superior at oddity and insertions with manipulable objects, and generalized these games to workbook-like formats resembling those encountered in kindergarten. They also scored higher on the numeracy and memory scales of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, indicating that mastery of oddity and insertions may have served as foundations for further cognitive growth. The children who participated in the ICPS exercises became superior at creating solutions to interpersonal problems, as measured by the Preschoolers Interpersonal Problem Solving Scale. The differences in the outcomes indicate that both interventions were successful in their own domains. The advantage the cognitive intervention produced on the McCarthy Scales suggests that oddity and insertion abilities may be a foundation in fact as well as in theory for general cognitive growth at this age.     

Variables related to contacting/not contacting counseling services recommended by school psychologists

A study was conducted analyzing 132 referrals made by school psychologists to families for counseling outside of the school setting. Thirty-three variables were explored as having possible relationships with the outcome of the referral recommendation. Findings of this study were discussed in light of previous research, implications for practice were detailed, and study limitations noted.     

Early education as community intervention: Assisting an ethnic minority to be ready for school

An early education program designed for an ethnic minority of Native Hawaiians implemented at the community rather than the individual child level of intervention is described. The program development effort is theory driven and provides an opportunity to investigate the application of neo-Vygotskian theory to an applied community educational problem. Though not specifically derived from the work of O'Donnell, Tharp, and Wilson (1993), the project reported here shares a common intellectual heritage. This paper demonstrates the parallels between the early education program developed for Hawaiian children and the applicability of the theory presented in the work of O'Donnell et al. Portions of this research were supported by Grant #40212121 and Grant #MCJ495051 from the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and Resource Management, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded to the Center of Development of Early Education, Kamehameha School, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817, and to the Early Intervention Research Institute, Center for Persons with Disabilities, Utah State University, respectively.     

Student counseling groups in senior high school settings: An evaluation of outcome

This paper reviewed the studies which evaluated counseling groups in senior high school settings. A methodological evaluation was conducted within four areas: subjects, counselors, treatment, and outcome criteria. The studies were reviewed according to the type of outcome measure: achievement, attitude and personality, behavioral, and vocational. Three levels of voluntariness (voluntary, semivoluntary, and nonvoluntary) were examined in relation to outcome. Subjects who were free to volunteer for the group experience achieved greater gains than subjects who were coerced into participation. Overall, behavioral and directive groups achieved greater success than nondirective or client-centered groups. The time spent on topics relating to treatment goals appeared to be an important factor for success. Future researchers should assess the effects of treatment on each participant instead of relying upon group mean changes.     

Chaos,creativity, and counseling: Aspects of a Transtheoretical model of the counseling process

Counselors ask their clients to become creative in their personal lives and within their counseling process. The process of counseling is a creative process. Growth is necessary for effective improvement in the counseling process. This paper will examine creativity from the point of view of the affective experience of the creator, and the relationship of this experience to the client in counseling.

The position here is that the process of counseling is both a creative process and one that involves tensions and turbulence. Based on a model of nonlinear dynamics, and ideas about the creative process, this study draws a dynamical fractal movie of the counseling process in which the counselor serves as an attractor for the construction of opposites in the client behavior that allow for growth and the construction of a new state of psychosocial events.     

Dropping out of school: A review of intervention programs

This article reviews the literature on dropout prevention for school-aged children. A review of dropout prevention programs identified in the literature highlights methodological concerns, with a discussion of design, sampling, statistical analysis, and implementation issues. The interventions employed with greatest frequency in the studies reviewed emphasized academic enhancement, psychosocial skill development, mentoring, and parent/teacher behavior management training. Programs that were academically oriented or those that were multi-component programs emerged with the most promising empirical base. However, at the present time, there is a lack of consistent and persuasive outcome evidence that meet Kratochwill and Stoiber's [Sch. Psychol. Q. 15 (2001) 233] criteria for empirically supported interventions. This deficiency leads to the conclusion that there is no one particular best practice or beneficial treatment currently available to address the problem of school dropout even though a number of intervention programs appear to hold promise. Implications for school psychologists include both practice and research applications.     

Helping the child with cancer: what school personnel want to know

As more children with cancer survive, the importance of facilitating school reintegration as a part of maximizing the quality of life has become evident. Workshops have been presented to school personnel to acquaint them with the issues facing cancer patients and their families, but there are gaps in our knowledge of what school personnel really need or want to know. In this study, 18 teachers of children with cancer and 15 teachers with no prior contact with students with cancer completed a questionnaire designed to assess needs, beliefs, and priorities with regard to working with cancer patients in the classroom. Significant findings included: (a) a consensus that a certain core of information about medical/psychological issues would be useful, and presentation of such information by psychologists and medical personnel working with such families would be optimal; (b) teachers having cancer patients as students were less likely to see the adaptation of siblings as an important issue; (c) teachers associated working with a student with cancer with less stress and demands on their time than predictable from previous studies; and (d) cancer patients as a whole were rated as having fewer behavioral, emotional, and learning problems than randomly selected students without a major illness, suggesting a "halo effect" or contradiction of some literature. Preliminary findings are detailed and implications are discussed for those attempting to help teachers facilitate students' adjustment to school following diagnosis and treatment of cancer.