Integrating the Spiritual Dimension Into Traditional Counselor Education Programs

The author explores the issues involved in integrating the spiritual dimension into traditional counselor education by creating a joint community and addictions counseling master's program based on a hybrid of the wounded healer and wellness models. Such a hybrid encompasses both the skills and knowledge approaches to counselor education advocated by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs and the spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous's 12 steps. After a theoretical discussion of this hybrid model, an experimental master's program based on the model is described.     

Examining Reasoning Skill Differences Between Expert and Novice Counselors

There is increasing interest in identifying the complex cognitive skills that constitute counseling expertise. Research from cognitive psychology suggests significant differences between experts and novices in their reasoning. This study examines the reasoning of expert and novice counselors engaged in a diagnostic task. Cases varied on “problem structure”—the extent to which problem-relevant information was clear and apparent. While an expertise by problem structure interaction was hypothesized, most of the differences were found across case type. Results suggest that the structure of the diagnostic problem may be an important variable affecting reasoning. The importance of problem structure for future research and training is discussed.     

A FIELD STUDY OF JOB APPLICANT INTERVIEW PERCEPTIONS, ALTERNATIVE OPPORTUNITIES, AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

A field study was conducted to examine several factors related to young job applicants, their reactions to job interviews, and their intentions to accept a job if offered. Immediately following their interviews, 422 applicants voluntarily responded to questionnaires concerning the interview, parents' and friends' pressure for them to take the job, alternative job opportunities, and behavioral intentions to accept the job. Applicants who responded more favorably to their interviewers felt somewhat more positive about taking a job in the recruiting organization. Perceived alternative job opportunities moderated the relationship between reactions to the job and acceptance intentions. Multivariate effects were found for applicant sex, applicant race, and interviewer sex on reactions to the interviewer and the interview. Further research on the role of parental and peer pressure on job acceptance among young workers is suggested, as is the moderating role of alternative opportunities. The implications of race and sex differences in interview reactions are also discussed.     

Vocational Theories: Direction to Nowhere

There exists a literature about work that has been completely neglected by vocational psychologists and counselors. In this article the author discusses, in relation to vocational theory and career counseling, the implications of this literature, with its general conclusion that work for the great majority of people is not and never can be fulfilling.     

Privacy and large-scale personal data systems

Large-scale personal data retrieval systems must be expected to come into very general use. Despite the obvious opportunities that these systems offer, they may also involve important hazards for individual and organizational privacy. It is imperative, if privacy interests are to be protected, that stringent protective devices be included in each information system of this type. These devices should involve limitations upon the scope and character of the data that are collected, their dissemination, and their use. They must be tailored to the problems presented by each information system.     

Rigor,Relevance, and Counseling Research: On the Need to Maintain Our Course Between Scylla and Charybdis

This article suggests that a construct called experience-nearness determines the relevance of research to practice. A mixture of experience-near (relevant) and experience-far (rigorous) research is needed to optimally advance knowledge in, counseling.     

Neuro Linguistic Programming for Counselors

This article elucidates the contributions of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to counseling practice. The Meta-Model, representational systems, anchoring, and reframing are described, and implications and cautions are discussed.