ALTERNATIVES TO COUNSELING “MINORITIES”

Since it is impossible for a counselor to have first hand knowledge of all minority/cultural groups with which he deals, it is suggested that he develop skills in the “here and now” models of counseling to be able to assist the counselee from minority group.     

Naturalistic Research

Naturalistic research is offered as an alternative to the more familiar hypothesis-testing methods of research. Naturalistic research is disciplined inquiry conducted through personal, long-term contact between the researcher and the object of research. Rather than arbitrarily operationalizing the variables and specifying the hypotheses in advance of contact with the case, the meanings held by persons involved with the case and the effects of the context on the case are allowed to emerge from the data and thus become the objects of study. In this article the assumptions of the methodology of naturalistic inquiry are contrasted with those underlying traditional hypothesis-testing methods.     

Ethical Standards: Assets and Limitations

APGA's Ethical Standards is a code of ethics that serves as the professional guidelines for many counselors and offers some protection in malpractice litigation. This article discusses the assets and limitations of the Ethical Standards and draws some conclusions for counselors.     

Cross-Cultural Family Therapy — A Malaysian Experience

This case report illustrates the possibilities and difficulties of family therapy in a non-Western culture. Malaysia is a truly multiracial society with diverse ethnic groups having different religions, languages, and cutural patterns of relationships. In addition, the nation as a whole, and each ethnic group in particular, is in the process of cultural change, which produces stress on the traditional family's style of relationships. The therapists working in this culture are often crossing religious, linguistic, and socioeconomic barriers, as well as encountering the cultural pressures placed upon families. We will formulate some general problems in cross-cultural psychotherapy, discuss some aspects of this specific culture and family with a case report, and offer some suggestions for handling problems in family therapy under these circumstances.     

Counseling the aging

In a culture preoccupied with youth, the aged are often relegated to a secondary and neglected status. Mary Buckley's article asks us to take another look at the aged and realize that, contrary to our prejudices, personal growth and creative living do not end with the beginning of retirement. She describes her counseling style with the aging, which is designed to provide an atmosphere of understanding and sharing in order to foster their growth.     

RECRUITMENT EVALUATION: THE CASE FOR ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF APPLICANTS ATTRACTED

We argue that assessing attraction outcomes is critical to systematic improvement of recruitment effectiveness and offer a new assessment framework that can be adapted by all organizations for any position in any staffing scheme. These methods (a) permit outcomes of different recruitment processes–attraction, status maintenance, and gaining job acceptance–to be evaluated independently, (b) support concurrent evaluations of attraction outcomes, (c) enable cost-benefit analyses of alternative recruitment processes, (d) allow meaningful comparisons of applicants from different recruitment events, and (e) support more aggressive management of the recruitment function than is otherwise possible. An illustrative example demonstrates these methods using attraction outcome data from 5 organizations' recruitment of associate engineers and shows that not only do attraction outcomes differ, the value of those differences can be substantial.     

Functions of Christian Prayer in the Coping Process

This research project sought to examine the multiple functions that prayer serves in the coping process for members of Christian groups. We used concept mapping to describe and organize a small group of participants' perceptions concerning the functions of prayer when coping with personal difficulties, as well as examined the frequency and perceived effectiveness of these prayer functions. The number and variety of items generated by participants indicates that prayer can be used in multiple ways to deal with personal problems. Inspection of these items and the resulting concept map yielded three bipolar dimensions that describe a variety of prayer functions: approach/avoidance; internal focus/external focus; and deferring/self-directing. The arrangement of items also corresponded roughly to a three-factor structure found in several existing coping measures. Participants reported that the most effective prayer functions involve seeking guidance and expressing gratitude .     

健康素养型医疗机构与健康促进医院的概念与特征比较综述

健康素养型医疗机构建设是提升居民健康素养的必要途径和有效手段。通过回顾国内外文献,从医疗机构建设的角度,对健康素养型医疗机构和我国健康促进医院的概念与特征进行介绍与比较,发现两者在服务人群和适用对象、特征内涵及评价工具上均有异同点,提出健康素养型医疗机构建设是实现我国健康促进医院建设目标的必要前提,也是促进医疗机构和医务人员健康促进和健康教育工作开展的有效途径,以为践行《健康中国行动(2019-2030年)》中的相关指标提供参考。