Effectiveness of a brief counseling intervention in stimulating vocational exploration

The intervention procedures used in this study, a brief report of vocational interest scores and small group sessions on vocational planning, were designed to encourage girls to consider the full range of occupations, unrestricted by sex-role stereotypes. In each of three schools, ninth-grade girls with average academic ability or above were randomly assigned to an intervention group (N = 195) and a control group (N = 195). Analyses of 1- and 3-month outcome data indicated that the intervention stimulated occupational exploration and increased congruence between occupational preferences and measured interests. Outcomes differed according to interest type, thus suggesting that certain students may need more counselor attention than others.     

Preparing Students for the Worst: The Power of Negative Thinking

Helping students be prepared for an uncertain future is difficult. Generally speaking, we counselors are least helpful in preparing students for unhappy eventualities: academic failure (failing an exam or flunking out), vocational failure (unemployment, change of career direction), social failure (rejection, loss, loneliness), or even unhappiness itself. If unprepared for, such future eventualities can be a source of present anxiety and fear-motivated, over-protective life-styles or of defensive denial and unrealistic hopes. As helpers, we may collude with those who ignore or deny and offer the anxious a kind of positive thinking that again fails to prepare them for the worst. In contrast, some negative thinking or contingency planning for otherwise fearful possibilities may help to undercut anxiety, restore motivation to move forward and take risks, shift attention from future-oriented coping to living creatively in the present, clarify priorities and values for life planning, and generally expand behavioral freedom and flexibility. This article emphasizes the use of constructive negative thinking in preparing students for life both in and beyond the classroom or the ivory tower.     

Familiarity and free recall

Using stimulus material drawn from a single category, it is shown that formal recognition tests yield superior performance to recall when the category cannot be completely enumerated by the subjects, but not otherwise. Furthermore, within these categories recognition is superior only if unfamiliar items are selected as stimuli. These findings fit the theory that when recalling subjects attempt to scan the relevant category and “recognize” those items employed as stimuli.     

Remembering a list of two-digit numbers

The way subjects remember a list of two-digit numbers has been examined in some detail. It is found that intrusions in free recall are not random. They resemble omissions in having the same first digit but not in other ways. This non-randomness of recall errors has been used to construct recognition tests of varying difficulty. Numbers which occurred commonly as intrusions were difficult to distinguish from the correct items when used as distractors in recognition tests. The experiments suggest that the previously observed relationship between recognition efficiency and number of alternatives (Davis, Sutherland and Judd, 1961) can be attributed to the increased probability that such intrusions will be included when the total number of distractors is increased.     

Burnout in counseling psychologists: Type of practice setting and pertinent demographics

Extent of burnout experienced by conseling psychologists and the relationship between levels of burnout and different types of practice settings, selected demographic and work-related variables were investigated in this study. Burnout was defind in terms of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) subsxales. Multiple regression anslyses were perforned on the data (n = 521). Counseling psychologists in private practice reported the lowest levels of burnout, while those employed in hospital settings reported the highest levels of Burnout. A positive relationship was found between hours of client contact per week and sense of personal accomplishment. Finally, an inverse relationship was reported between age and burnout, and males experienced greater depersonalization of clients than females.     

Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences in Precollege Women: Prevalence and Risk Factors

The authors of this study examined the prevalence of nonconsensual sexual experiences in dating situations among a sample of 330 incoming female college students. Results indicated that 38.5% of women reported experiencing at least one form of sexual victimization in dating, ranging from unwanted sexual contact to rape. Victimization was related to history of childhood sexual abuse as well as previous consensual sexual activity. Discussion focuses on the need for education and prevention programs during the secondary school years and counseling assistance for college-age victims.     

Nursing and genetic health care

Advances in DNA technology are leading to major developments in nursing practice in clinical genetics, including the creation of new roles for nurses who care for people with genetic conditions. Application of genetic information and testing is moving genetics into the mainstream of health care. Therefore, it is anticipated that nurses in all areas of practice will become involved in the provision of information about genetic testing and assisting individuals and families in decision making and adjustment to new genetic information. This article provides an overview of the profession of nursing which may be useful to genetic counselors in the development of collaborative relationships between the two professions.