Technology and Work: Future Issues for Career Guidance

Advances in communication and microcomputer technologies are having a dramatic impact on our personal and vocational lives. This article focuses on possible consequences for career guidance professionals.     

Should We Have Children? A Decision-Making Group for Couples

The authors designed and conducted a group for couples deciding whether to have children or remain childfree. Four couples participated in various group exercises and activities. The group experience was positive for most members; in relation to this decision they gained an understanding of their own needs and attitudes, of their spouses' positions, and of the issues involved. Outcomes varied: One couple decided to wait to make the decision, two decided to have children later, and one decided to probably remain childfree.     

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.     

Beyond the Circumplex Model: I. A Moratorium on Curvilinearity

The developmental history of Olson's Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems, and companion measure, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES), are reviewed with respect to structure, definition, and theory. Cohesion and adaptability are analyzed as multivariate constructs consisting of linear variables that interact in a confounding, systemic fashion. The theory of curvilinearity — the idea that the model's two key dimensions of cohesion and adaptability form a curvilinear rather than linear relationship with effective family functioning — is rejected.     

Understanding Spirituality in Counseling Psychology: Considerations for Research,Training, and Practice

Selective understandings of spirituality among early, contemporary, and current theorists were reviewed. The purpose is to suggest the multiple implications these varied understandings of spirituality have for practicing clinicians in the field of counseling psychology. Sources of literature were primarily drawn from published literature and classical texts. The conclusions suggest that professionals within the field may need to increase objective and subjective interpretations of spirituality in the therapeutic realm. With this awareness, it is assumed that clinical sensitivity to multiculturalism, recovery movements, and dysfunctional religious systems may be achieved and, subsequently, therapeutic competence may be increased.     

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 .