Revisiting relationships between sex-related variables and continuation in counseling

This study examined the relationships between three sex-related variables (client sex, therapist sex, and dyad matching on sex) and continuation in counseling. 245 college students who were clients at three university counseling centers participated. Consistent with previous studies, women comprised 68.2% of the clients seeking services at these counseling centers. Clients' sex was significantly related to counseling duration, explaining 2.2% of the common variance. Female clients, on the average, attended 1.8 more sessions than male clients. However, neither the therapists' sex nor dyad matching on sex was significantly related to the duration of counseling. None of the sex-related variables correlated with premature termination of counseling. The results have implications for providing counseling and outreach services to male students. Despite relatively equivalent rates in the incidence of mental health problems, female students continue to comprise the majority of clients. Therefore, university counseling centers need to communicate their services better to male students in need of mental health services.     

Inter- and intra-group differences in psychological concerns among international students

With data gathered from 47 university counseling centers in the United States, this study addresses both inter- and intra-group differences in symptomatology at intake among international students. In Study 1, symptomatology among international students was explored in comparison to US ethnic groups. In Study 2, intra-group differences in symptomatology among international students were examined. In Study 1, data consisted of 14,421 international, White American, African American, Asian American, and Latina/Latino American counseling center clients who completed the CCAPS-62 at intake. Partially supporting our hypothesis, results indicate significant findings among international students in the social anxiety and academic distress domains of the CCAPS-62. Contrary to our expectations, Asian American students reported significantly greater concerns across many domains when compared to other groups. In Study 2, international students (n = 607) were further divided into five continents of origin: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe. Results indicate that in multiple domains, international students from Asia and Africa reported significantly greater concerns than those from Europe, North America, or South America. Implications of findings for university counseling centers and universities at large are discussed.     

Helping Those Who Help Themselves: Does Counseling Enhance Retention?

This study examined how academic distress changed over the course of counseling and predicted retention. The sample comprised students receiving services at the campus counseling center (n = 404), students from a psychology department subject pool (n = 311), and students from the general campus population (n = 75,748). The analyses performed included t test, analysis of covariance, chi‐square test, and logistical regression. The results suggested that students whose academic distress did not decrease had lower retention rates than both clients whose academic distress improved and the general student body.     

Addressing the Mental Health Concerns of International Students

International students on the American college campus are a diverse and increasing population whose unique concerns are traditionally overlooked. However, given the evidence that the demands for cultural adjustments frequently place international students at greater risk for various psychological problems than are students in general, it is important that sufficient and readily accessible mental health services be established for them. This article examines the sources of international students' psychological concerns, the reasons for their notable underutilization of existing counseling services, and the ways to provide more culturally sensitive services.     

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.     

Innovation in Guidance: A Mobile Counseling Center

A mobile counseling center staffed by 4 counselors serves high schools in 4 counties of southern Indiana. The operation of the center is designed to enrich, supplement, and improve the quality of counseling services for secondary students of the area. The mobile center also serves as a model to stimulate the development of exemplary and innovative guidance services in regular school programs.     

Psychische Beschwerden und Störungen von Studierenden

Background

Psychological distress among students is receiving growing attention in the scientific community as well as in the general public. There are counseling services available in student societies and universities which address psychological distress among students but scientific research in this area is rudimentary and poorly represented.

Problem in question

In order to present the prevalence, extent and type of psychological disorders in students and the alterations over time, an investigation was carried out to show which psychological complaints and disorders were present in students who consulted a psychotherapeutic counseling center. These data were compared with the psychological complaints of a student field study population. Furthermore, alterations in the psychological complaints and disorders of students over periods of 10 and 15 years will be presented.

Methods

The prevalence and change over time of psychological syndromes in students were identified by a comparison between an unselected sample of counseling center clients and several student field samples from the previous 15 years. The type of distress and severity of symptoms were measured with a Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), the Psychosocial Complaints List (PSB), the Satisfaction With Life And Studies Scale (LSZ), the diagnostic assessment according to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10), the Complaints Severity Score (BSS) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF).

Results

Previous results of investigations which showed that 20–25% of students suffer from psychological disorders could be confirmed in this study. However, 60–65% of the clients of a counseling center suffered from clinically relevant psychological disorders, which is significantly higher. The most common disorders were depressive moods, lack of self-confidence and exam anxiety, which can mostly be diagnostically assigned to adjustment, depression and anxiety disorders. The comparison with previous studies showed that the types and severity of psychological distress among students have remained stable over the last 15 years, with the exception of test anxiety which increased by 51% from 1993 to 2008. With respect to alcohol abuse, considerably less impairments were found than had been assumed based on the earlier investigations.

Conclusions

Psychological complaints and disorders are frequently found among students and they cause individual suffering as well as economic expenses. Noticeable was the obvious increase in clinically relevant exam anxiety. Psychological-psychotherapeutic counseling centers make an important contribution to screening, clinical assessment, primary health care and prevention of severe mental disorders among students and have shown a continuously increasing number of cases in recent years. Further studies especially in a process-outcome design of the mostly eclectic counseling centers are needed and possibilities will be presented.     

Mental Health Literacy and Peer-to-Peer Counseling Referrals Among Community College Students

Mental health literacy (MHL) has utility for promoting peer-to-peer referrals to mental health support services among university students. However, there is a gap in the extant literature about the potential usefulness of MHL for supporting the mental health of community college students, a population facing a number of mental health conditions. The authors examined the construct validity and the utility of 3 dimensions of MHL as predictors of peer-to-peer referrals to the counseling center among community college students. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the dimensionality of the instrumentation and a hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that MHL was a significant positive predictor of peer-to-peer referrals to the counseling center. Implications for counseling practice and future research are discussed.     

Contextual Themes in Career Decision Making of Female Clients Who Indicate Depression

Difficulties concerning female counseling center clients' career decision making were explored in this qualitative study. The authors reviewed counseling intake and progress notes of 18 female students who sought counseling services at a university counseling center and who presented career concerns and reported feeling depressed. Most women in this study described their career decision‐making difficulties in the context of relationships with their parents or significant others. Both external (i.e., family relationships, family and culture, and relationships with significant others) and internal (i.e., developmental, developmental and mental health issues, and skill deficits) conditions emerged as significantly affecting these women's career decision‐making process.     

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.     

Counseling Latino University Students: Psychosociocultural Issues for Consideration

Salient issues for Latino students on predominately White university campuses are identified and discussed. In particular, university counseling center (UCC) service providers can help diminish or diffuse educational and social difficulties of Latino students by considering psychosociocultural issues in counseling, such as university cultural environment, ethnic identity, acculturation, and social support from family and mentors. These concepts are illustrated and discussed through vignettes. Specific strategies for UCC service providers are also presented. Finally, attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, and skills necessary to provide competent psychosociocultural services to Latino students are identified.     

Accreditation Standards for University and College Counseling Centers

The accreditation standards outlined in the article are used by the International Association of Counseling Services, Inc., as the basis for the formal accreditation of college and university counseling programs throughout the United States and Canada. They reflect the program elements and practice standards that are deemed essential in a counseling center that provides high-quality services to students.     

Accreditation Standards for University and College Counseling Centers

The accreditation standards outlined in the article are used by the International Association of Counseling Services as the basis for the formal accreditation of college and university counseling programs throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. They reflect the program elements and practice standards that are deemed essential in a counseling center that provides high‐quality services to students.     

International students’ attachment and psychological well-being: the mediation role of mental toughness

This study examined the relationships of adult attachment, mental toughness (MT), and psychological well-being of international students. We hypothesized that attachment anxiety and avoidance would predict psychological well-being outcome variables and that MT would mediate the attachment-wellbeing links. The participants were 217 international students from a large public college in the United States. Structure Equation Modeling analyses were used to examine the proposed mediation effects. Result showed that MT functioned as a mediator for the paths between attachment anxiety and the two well-being latent variables of psychological distress and life satisfaction. On the other hand, attachment avoidance was found to have a more direct effect on adjustment difficulties without going through MT. Limitation and counseling implications are discussed.     

Incremental Validity of Interactive Multimedia Simulations in Two Organizations

Interactive multimedia simulations are conceptually distinct from other simulations commonly used as selection tools, such as assessment centers and situational judgment tests, and represent a potentially cost‐effective and job‐related candidate assessment tool. This study investigated the predictive validity of these simulations with a combined sample of call center employees from two organizations. Results indicate that customized interactive multimedia simulations demonstrate substantial criterion‐related validity and significant incremental validity over other noncognitive measures such as biodata and personality.     

International student-focused counseling research: A 34-year content analysis

With the rapid growth of the international student population in the United States and internationalization of the counseling field, there is an increasing need to understand how this population is represented in counseling psychology research. To this end, this study provides a content and methodological analysis of 85 international student-focused empirical articles published in journals related to counseling psychology from 1980–2014. Publication trends revealed that of the total number of published empirical articles (N = 6191, 1980–2014), only 1.37% of empirical articles focused on international students. And yet, it appears that the percentage of empirical articles increased from .77% (1980) to 1.75% (2014), indicating a growth of 127% in the number of published empirical articles on international students. Results revealed 10 content categories, of which cultural adjustments, psychological health, and help utilization were the most common topics of inquiry. Methodological trends suggested that quantitative methodologies and convenience sampling were used most frequently and the majority of the sample consisted of international students from Asian countries. Limitations of and recommendations for future research are addressed.     

Attitudes Toward Counselors and Counseling Processes: A Comparison of Chinese and American Graduate Students

Graduate students socialized in separate cultural settings, Taiwan and the United States, but studying at the same large university were surveyed about their (a) preferences for counselor's characteristics, (b) images of a counselor, and (c) attitudes toward counseling and counseling services. Results show that Chinese and American students have different preferences for and images of a counselor. Although both groups have positive attitudes toward seeking counseling, they know very little about the counseling resources and locations available. The groups also differ in their expectations of the counseling process. Some sex differences were indicated, but no clear pattern emerged.     

Noncognitive predictors of intelligence and academic achievement: An important role of confidence

Recent evidence about the relationship between cognitive tests and psychological noncognitive variables is reviewed. Noncognitive measures can be ordered with respect to their predictive validity. Many are poor predictors of intelligence and achievement. Measures of rationality, self-assessment of intelligence, Openness to Experience and self-concept correlate up to .35 with cognitive performance. Some domain-specific self-beliefs (self-efficacy and anxiety) have correlations with appropriate achievement tests that can reach .45. The best predictors of any kind of cognitive performance are measures of confidence (frequently reported correlations of .45 and above) that can capture a major part of predictive validity of the three self-beliefs. The role of self-beliefs has attracted much interest in education but their role in predicting performance on tests of fluid intelligence is likely to be low. However, self-beliefs and confidence in particular may prove to be the most potent noncognitive influences on the development of acculturated knowledge that is captured by measures of crystallized intelligence.     

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Selection Practices: Current Research and Future Directions

This review examines evolving personnel selection practices for unmanned aircraft systems/remotely piloted aircraft (UAS/RPA) across the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Naval Services, and U.S. Army. Findings across services revealed several themes, including strengths (e.g., strong predictive validities, consistency in operator profiles), weaknesses (e.g., small number of predictive validation studies, small sample sizes), and gaps (e.g., need for further investigation of noncognitive predictors). Ongoing and proposed research, including development and implementation of new instruments and methodologies, are discussed, followed by suggestions to facilitate enhanced UAS/RPA selection practices across the services.     

Professional Issues of International Genetic Counseling Students Educated in the United States

International students have unique personal and academic challenges during their training in genetic counseling programs across the United States (U.S.). Previous research has explored their motivations and experiences; however, there is scant research on how their international status affects the post-graduate experience. The current study used semi-structured phone interviews to explore the professional issues that international students face throughout their educational and professional careers. Twenty-six participants were interviewed including international genetic counseling students in their second years of training and international genetic counselors who graduated from a U.S.-accredited program. Participants included six, second-year students, twelve genetic counselors employed in the U.S., six employed in Canada, and one employed in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Qualitative analysis of interviews captured the common experiences and challenges international students faced during their training and post-graduation. Participants stated that they applied to programs in the U.S. because there is wide transferability of qualifications across the world, and there is limited or no opportunities for masters level genetic counseling training in their home country. Most participants who had applied for jobs in the U.S. experienced difficulties regarding unfamiliarity of human resources (HR) departments and Border Control Officers with international genetic counselors (GCs) and their visa requirements. The results suggest that currently there are insufficient job resources tailored to international genetic counselors, and an inadequate availability of peer support. The results also speak to the need to develop resources for prospective international students and for international GCs seeking jobs, and establishment of a peer support network. These resources may also provide assistance to genetic counseling training programs and employers to address the challenges faced by international genetic counselors.