Association of exercise counselors' sex with exercise session attendance in women enrolled in a cognitive behavioral treatment system

Attendance rates from two groups incorporating a cognitive behavioral treatment system (male counselor group, n=53; female counselor group, n=56) and a control group using standard methods of exercise counseling (n =56) were contrasted with new and returning female exercisers (overall M age=40 yr.). Analysis of variance with follow-up Scheffé tests indicated significantly greater attendance for the treatment groups (54 and 58%) than for the control group (37%) over 6 months. No significant difference between the treatment groups was found. Findings suggest that the sex of exercise counselors does not appear to influence attendance of exercise sessions.     

Influencing College Attendance Plans

This study compared the effectiveness of a filmstrip with that of a filmstrip- and-counseling program in influencing the college attendance plans of high school juniors. Students in a “typical” New York City high school were matched on certain variables and randomly assigned to a filmstrip group which viewed a 15-minute filmstrip about community colleges, a counseling group which saw the filmstrip and had a 15-minute personal interview with a community college counselor, and a control group. Students then completed a post-secondary school plans questionnaire. Analysis of their responses indicated that the combination of the filmstrip and the counseling significantly increased the number of students considering community college attendance compared with the control group, but that the filmstrip alone had no effect. The results indicate the importance of personal counseling compared with the sole use of mass media in efforts to influence post-high school plans.     

The help-seeking in career counseling

This study examined help-seeking in career counseling by investigating factors that influence students’ intention to consult a career counseling center. Nine hundred and eighteen participants were given the Attitudes toward Career Counseling Scale (ATCCS), an information brochure about the career counseling center; the Intention to Consult a Career Counseling Center Scale (ICCCS), and the Counselor Rating Form-Phrases (CFR-P). The initial value ascribed by the potential client to career counseling more than the attractiveness of career counseling predicted the intention to consult a career counseling center. Some significant differences between high school and university students emerged. The results provide further incentive to continue to study help-seeking in career counseling.     

The systematic use of positive and negative consequences in managing classroom encopresis

An 11-year-old male with a history of chronic encopresis was successfully treated by his teachers. Through the contingent application of a combination of positive (i.e., social reinforcers, token reinforcers, activity reinforcers) and negative consequences (i.e., required to wash himself and denied access to activity reinforcers), the subject's soiling behavior was reduced from an 80% daily occurrence level during Baseline to just two occasions during the final five-month treatment phase. A six-month follow-up conducted during the next school year revealed no incidences of soiling. The investigation utilized and ABACD type behavior modification design.     

Spiritual Disclosure and Ego Resiliency: Validating Spiritual Competencies

Counselor spiritual and religious competency depends primarily on the ability to facilitate client spiritual disclosure. Little is known, however, about the empirical qualities of spiritual disclosure. In a sample of 318 adults (mean age = 44 years), spiritual disclosure independently predicted ego resiliency, a critical quality for stress‐related growth. Spiritual disclosure predicted ego resiliency over the partial mediators of the 5 factors of personality, general global disclosure, and congregational support. Implications for professional counseling ethics are discussed.     

School Counselor Accountability: The Path to Social Justice and Systemic Change

Expectations run high that accountability for student outcomes will continue to drive the education agenda with reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965). School counselors have also recognized the imperative to connect their work to school improvement goals. This article discusses action research undertaken by school counselors who used data‐informed practice to align counseling programs with the accountability expectations of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002) and the American School Counselor Association (2003, 2005) National Model.     

Identity Importance and the Overreporting of Religious Service Attendance: Multiple Imputation of Religious Attendance Using the American Time Use Study and the General Social Survey

The difference between religious service attendance measured using conventional surveys and time diaries has been attributed to identity processes; a high level of religious identity importance may prompt overreporting on a survey question. This article tests the hypothesized role of identity importance as an individual determinant of overreporting and the result of socially desirable behavior. A time diary measure of attendance (from the American Time Use Study 2003–2008) is imputed for conventional survey data (from the General Social Survey 2002–2008) using the multiple imputation for multiple studies procedure ( Gelman, King, and Liu 1998a ). Logistic regression models predicting self‐reported attendance and overreported attendance are estimated using identity importance as a key covariate and controlling for demographic variables associated with attendance. Identity importance is a strong predictor of both self‐reported and overreported attendance. Attendance, while a biased measure of actual behavior, may be a good indicator of religiosity.     

Religious Involvement, Conventional Christian, and Unconventional Nonmaterialist Beliefs

This article uses a Scottish national sample to examine the relationship between church involvement, religious socialization among nonattenders, orthodox Christian beliefs, and a variety of unconventional nonmaterialist beliefs. Greater conventional religious belief is strongly associated with supposed alternatives but nonetheless, nonattenders are more likely to believe in the unconventional over and above any enduring sympathy they may hold for Christian doctrine. One group in particular stands out: belief remains high among nonattenders who once went to services regularly and seriously contemplate reengaging with organized religion. The article discusses the importance of these findings for "believing but not belonging."     

Perceived Impact of Professional Counselor Identity: An Exploratory Study

Counselor educators (N= 378) provided their viewpoints regarding the impact of counselor identity on professional advancement and recognition. Respondents indicated that counselors, the American Counseling Association, and other counseling organizations are responsible for advocacy of the counseling profession. Collaboration among counselors for the development of a single coherent message is necessary for advocacy efforts aimed at congressional Medicare leaders, managed care organizations, state licensing boards, and allied professions.     

Supporting a Nation of Learners: The Role of School Counseling in Educational Reform

The most recent school reform agenda directed the development of national standards across the academic content areas to improve educational practice and pedagogy. U.S. Department of Education's (1994) Goals 2000: The Educate America Act and its subsequent nationwide implementation largely ignored the involvement of school counseling in school reform efforts. Counselors in schools face the challenge of preparing students to meet the expectations of these higher academic standards and to become well‐educated and contributing members of an ever changing and complex society. The development of the National Standards for School Counseling Programs (American School Counselor Association, 2003) positioned school counseling to play an increasingly important role in contemporary school improvement and in support of the recent educational legislative agenda the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001).     

学校心理咨询若干倾向性问题的思考

本文针对当前学校心理咨询中普遍存在的重视"调适性心理咨询",忽视"发展性心理咨询";重视心理异常中"心理障碍"的矫治,忽视"一般心理问题"的调控和重视成人心理异常表现模式的套用,忽视学生心理异常表现的年龄特征等倾向,提出并论述了学校心理咨询"咨询类型"的侧重点在于发展性心理咨询,"调适矫正"的着眼点在于心理异常中"一般心理问题"的调控,"分析判别"的出发点在于以学生各年龄阶段心理异常特有表现为依据的观点,为进一步强化学校心理咨询的科学性,顺利进行心理健康教育,以提高学生心理素质提供了理论依据.     

Chronic absence,eighth-grade achievement,and high school attainment in the Chicago Longitudinal Study

Although not as commonly reported as average daily attendance, chronic absence data may be of significant importance for understanding student success. Using data from 1148 participants in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, we assessed the associations of chronic absence in the early middle grades, grades fourth through sixth, with eighth-grade achievement and three measures of high school attainment including four-year graduation by diploma, graduation by diploma by age 21, and any high school completion by age 21. The rate of chronic absenteeism, defined here as students missing approximately 14 days of school or more in a year, was 15%. Using Ordinary Least Squares, probit regression, and inverse-probability-weighting regression-adjustment methods (IPWRA), results indicated that chronic absence in the early middle grades was negatively associated (d = − 0.17) with eighth-grade math achievement and reduced the probability of four-year graduation by diploma by 18 percentage points, graduation by diploma by age 21 by 17 percentage points, and any high school completion by age 21 by 11 percentage points. IPWRA yielded similar estimates. Coefficients varied by subgroup with males and children of mothers who completed high school experiencing more detrimental effects. Associations of chronic absence with outcomes are important to understand because school interventions and practices which begin early can be effective in reducing the prevalence of absenteeism.     

A note on some reinforcing properties of university lectures

Contingency management systems in university courses have sometimes assigned the role of reinforcing stimulus to lectures and demonstrations. Attending a lecture was made contingent upon having previously finished certain course assignments. The present paper investigated some variables that control student attendance at lectures. Attendance remained high throughout each course at those class meetings where quizzes contributing to course grades were given or where impending quizzes were discussed. Attendance at lectures over the reading assignments or over material unrelated to course quizzes rapidly declined. When students were given course credit for attending these lectures, or when the lectures included information for future quizzes, attendance increased. When attending these lectures was made contingent upon having completed certain assignments the prior week, no increase in assignment completion was noted and the attendance at the lectures decreased even further. All lectures were given during one class meeting each week. Attendance at the other class meetings during the week remained stable.     

Evaluating the individual counseling of conduct problem adolescents: The goal attainment scaling method

Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is described as a potentially useful way of evaluating goal attainment of individual counseling provided to public school adolescents with conduct problems. Utilization of the GAS method for individual counseling involves a counselor (e.g., school psychologist) and a pupil in goal setting, program design, goal attainment scaling, and goal attainment evaluation activities. An application of the GAS method to evaluate goal attainment of individual counseling of conduct problem adolescents in an urban high school is presented, and formative evaluation data pertaining to practical and technical properties of the approach are reported. Advantages and limitations of the GAS method are discussed.     

Confidentiality of Adolescent Risk-Taking Behaviors: A Survey of Turkish School Counselors

The present study investigated school counselors’ ratings of the importance of factors in deciding to report adolescent risk-taking behaviors to parents. Turkish school counselors (N = 346) were surveyed. Differences based on gender, years of experience, level of education, attendance of a counseling ethics course, and geographic region were investigated. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used in data analysis. Protecting the student was the highest rated factor. Women and those who took an ethics course rated protecting the student higher than others. Implications for counseling ethics training are discussed, and recommendations for future research are outlined.     

Boarding School Attendance and Physical Health Status of Northern Plains Tribes

Our hypothesis was that boarding school attendance among Northern Plains tribal members was associated with lower self-reported physical health status controlling for demographic, socioeconomic variables, the number of mental health and physical health problems. This secondary analysis used the American Indian Service Utilization, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Risk and Protective Factors Project data collected from 1997 to 1999. This analysis included (n = 1638) Northern Plains tribally enrolled members, aged 15–54, who lived on or within 20 miles of their reservations. Using linear regression and path analysis we examined the indirect, direct, and combine associations of boarding school attendance and physical health status. Results confirm boarding school attendance contributed indirectly (beta = ?.83, CI = ?1.33,-.33, p. ≤ .001) through number of physical health conditions to lower physical health status. Combined direct and indirect results (beta = ?.39, CI = ?1.20, .42) show American Indians who attended boarding school have lower physical health status (beta = ?1.22, CI = ?2.18,-.26, p. ≤ .01) than those who did not. The relationship of American Indian boarding school attendance and physical health status is complex with more than one path existing. We need to better understand the relationship of boarding school attendance and American Indian health, identify risk factors, and develop interventions for families and younger generations.     

Teenagers,contraception, and pregnancy

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania started a family planning counseling program for teenage nulliparae in a nearby public high school in 1973-1974. Educational, informal counseling, and discussion sessions were held in the school on a weekly basis by a social worker, family planning nurse, family planning counselor, and male outreach worker. Following the classes, almost half the girls attended the hospital's Teen Clinic for physical examination and contraceptive supplies. Parental permission was not necessary for attendance at the classes or at the hospital clinic. A second program was started at another school in the year 1974-1975. The goal of the program was to offer family planning information in the early teen years and prevent unwanted pregnancy.     

Parental Engagement and Barriers to Participation in a Community-Based Preventive Intervention

This study examined parent characteristics and barriers to participation in a community-based preventive intervention with a sample of 201 parents from low-income and predominantly ethnic minority backgrounds. Person-centered analyses revealed five subgroups of parents who demonstrated variability in their parent characteristics, which included psychological resources and level of parental involvement in education. Group membership was associated with differences in school involvement and use of the psychoeducational intervention at home, after accounting for the number of barriers to engagement. For the intervention attendance variable, greater number of barriers was associated with decreased attendance only for parents in the resilient subgroup and the psychologically distressed subgroup. Attendance remained constant across levels of barriers for the other three subgroups of parents. The results of the study inform theory and practice regarding how to tailor preventive interventions to accommodate subgroups of parents within populations that experience barriers to accessing mental health services.     

Predicting Health-Check Attendance Among Prior Attenders and Nonattenders: The Role of Prior Behavior in the Theory of Planned Behavior

A prospective study applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to the prediction of attendance at health checks is reported. Conducted in a single general practice, 307 patients completed questionnaires based on the TPB, and were invited to attend a health check. The role of prior behavior in the TPB was assessed in 2 ways. First, it was used to assess the sufficiency of the TPB. The addition of prior attendance behavior led to a significant increase in the prediction of current behavior. Second, its role as a moderator variable was assessed. While the TPB was unsuccessful in predicting attendance behavior among prior attenders, it was able to do so among prior nonattenders. The results are discussed in relation to recent work on decision-making processes.