Showing papers in "The Counseling Psychologist in 1997"

A Guide to Conducting Consensual Qualitative Research

Abstract: The authors discuss the components of consensual qualitative research (CQR) using open-ended questions to gather data, using words to describe phenomena, studying a few cases intensively, recognizing the importance of context, using an inductive analytic process, using a team and making decisions by consensus, using auditors, and verifying results by systematically checking against the raw data. The three steps for conducting CQR are developing and coding domains, constructing core ideas, and developing categories to describe consistencies across cases (cross analysis). Criteria for evaluating CQR are trustworthiness of the method, coherence of the results, representativeness of the results to the sample, testimonial validity, applicability of the results, and replicability across samples. Finally, the authors discuss implications for research, practice, and training.

A Theory-Building Investigation of the School-to-Work Transition

Abstract: This study sought to enhance an understanding of the school-to-work transition for work-bound high school students. The objective was to identify individual and contextual factors relevant to the school-to-work transition. The authors obtained interview data from a diverse sample of 45 employed young men and women (aged 18-29) who have been in this transition during the past 10 years. Using a grounded theory approach, a coding system was developed with quantitative and qualitative indexes. The authors used job satisfaction and occupational choice congruence as subjective and objective means of capturing an adaptive school-to-work transition. Initial correlational analyses were conducted with quantitatively derived variables to provide a framework for qualitative analyses. Qualitative analyses of participant narratives revealed several individual and contextual factors that characterize the adaptive school-to-work transition. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for...

Predictors of Research Productivity and Science-Related Career Goals among Counseling Psychology Doctoral Students

Abstract: This cross-sectional study investigated predictors of research productivity and science-related career goals in a sample of 267 doctoral students (representing a response rate of 5S%) from 15 randomly selected APA-accredited counseling psychology doctoral programs. A structural equation modeling procedure revealed that career goals and research productivity could be predicted by Holland personality type, perceptions of the research training environment, interest in research, and research self-efficacy. Students' gender and year in the doctoral program also contributed to this causal model as additional predictor variables, providing a very good fit to the data The present findings contribute to theories of research training by presenting a comprehensive examination of the major factors previously investigated in the literature as predictors of research productivity and science-related career goals within the context of a structural equation model

The Vocational Development of Non-College-Bound Youth: Counseling Psychology and the School-to-Work Transition Movement

Abstract: Due to inadequate preparation for employment and lack of assistance in making the transition to work, many youth struggle entering the labor market, are unemployed, or flounder in jobs without opportunities for advancement. The school-to-work transition movement, exemplified by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, is designed to address the career development needs of non-college-bound youth. However, despite the fact that counseling psychology has been intimately involved with career development since its inception, attempts to link counseling psychology and the school-to-work movement are almost nonexistent. Given that the school-to-work movement will directly affect the vocational outcomes of potentially 75% or more of youth, it is imperative that counseling psychologists begin to take an active role in the movement. This article attempts to provide an impetus for counseling psychologists to become involved in the school-to-work movement through theory building, research, training, and practice.

Factor Structure of the Research Training Environment Scale-Revised:: Implications for Research Training in Applied Psychology

Abstract: The factor structure of the Research Training Environment Scale-Revised was examined in a sample of 270 graduate students in counseling psychology. This confirmatory factor analysis assessed the fit of a nine-factor model corresponding to the respective subscales on the measure, as well as the fit of a second-order factor structure suggested by an exploratory factor analysis of data. The second-order factor structure fit very well when conducted on manifest (i.e., observed) subscale total scores; the results were more ambiguous when first-order latent factors were included in the factor structure. The analyses suggested that an instructional dimension and an interpersonal dimension are global factors of the research training environment.

Interprofessional Collaboration for Children and Families: Opportunities for Counseling Psychology in the 21st Century

Abstract: As societal forces affect the well-being of children, youth, and families, professionals are changing the ways they practice and the settings in which they work In this article, the authors point toward interprofessional collaborations and integrated service systems as promising reform efforts that present opportunities and challenges for counseling psychologists. The authors describe the history and commitments of counseling psychology that position the profession to meet these challenges and the changes in focus and roles necessary to do so. Finally, efforts underway at Boston College are described as one exanlple of counseling psychologists engaged in interprofessional collaboration within schools.

Self-Efficacy: Building a Sociocognitive Bridge between Social and Counseling Psychology

Abstract: This article examines Forsyth and Leary's seven interfaces of social and counseling psychology from the perspective of social cognitive theory. In each interface domain, the authors consider ways in which social cognitive inquiry (and self-efficacy research in particular) can be brought to bear on topics of mutual concern to social and counseling psychology. They also examine social cognitive theory as a unifying framework for bridging counseling and social psychology and other subdisciplines that share an interest in issues of health promotion, optimal adjustment, and psychological change mechanisms. Social cognitive theory's explicit concern with the interplay of social and cognitive factors may provide a fulcrum for rapprochement among psychological branches that have historically favored either intrapersonal or interpersonal accounts of human functioning. The theory's emphasis on personal agency and its application to many counseling-relevant problems may also help to bridge the gap between psychologi...

Beyond Feelings: Psychotherapy and Emotion

Abstract: Emotion and emotion-related processes lie at the heart of counseling, yet there is scant evidence that counseling psychology has a substantial curricular, scientific, or psychotherapeutic commitment to the psychological science of emotion. Likewise, social psychology and other fields involved with emotion science often avoid researching counseling-relevant topics and disseminate their findings in outlets and formats not likely to be accessed by or useful to counseling psychologists. This article identifies a series of impediments that may be responsible for these and related problems and proposes potential solutions.

Similarity and Difference in Multicultural Counseling: Considering the Attraction and Repulsion Hypotheses

Abstract: Similarity and difference have been explored within the counseling psychology and the social psychology literature. The counseling psychology literature has studied the influence of similarity and difference on clients' preferences for counselors. The theory driven social psychology literature has investigated the influence of similarity and difference on subsequent relationship development. Whereas the counseling research has examined similarity and difference within the context of counseling, social psychology research has examined similarity and difference within the context of co-workers, roommates, and acquaintances. Unfortunately, there has been little dialogue between these 2 parallel areas of investigation. This manuscript is an attempt then to provide a bridge between the counseling and social psychological literature. It is hoped that this selected review will provide an integrated approach from which to examine future research questions related to the impact of similarity and difference on the ...

Competitive Internship Candidates: A National Survey of Internship Training Directors.

Abstract: Given the competition for internship site placement, it is imperative that students gather as much information and guidance as possible. A one-page survey was sent to the 500 internship training directors listed in the 1993-1994 Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) Directory. Training directors rank ordered the relative importance of 10 internship tasks and assessed which professional practice experiences and courses distinguish a competitive applicant. Differences in perception and processing of clinical and counseling psychology applicants were also assessed. Results indicate that expectations of internship candidates vary by agency. Implications for internship candidates and program training directors are included.

Piecing the Puzzle Together:: A Model for Understanding the Theory-Practice Relationship

Abstract: The field of psychology holds theory to be one of the critical determinants of practice, yet the relationship between the two is difficult to describe. This article presents a seven-level model that delineates the different pathways through which theory affects conceptualization and intervention. Four outer levels of the framework (assumptive world, school, theory, and theorist) provide a way to organize clinical thinking, whereas two inner levels (strategy and technique) direct practice. The critical working hypothesis level serves as a bridge between the two. A case example illustrates the application of this model to clinical data, and implications are emphasized for graduate student training and psychotherapy practice.

Achieving the Goals of the Scientist-Practitioner Model:: The Seven Interfaces of Social and Counseling Psychology

Abstract: Counseling psychology and social psychology have commingled theoretically and empirically for many years, but both fields have much to gain from a more complete integration across seven domains: educational (learning, teaching, and training), professional (relationships between researchers and practitioners), practical (integrated attempts to solve individual and societal problems), methodological (shared empirical procedures and standards), theoretical (attempts to construct conceptual models that span disciplines), metatheoretical (shared assumptions about the phenomena under study), and epistemological (fundamental assumptions held in common about how knowledge is expanded). After estimating the strength of the union between social and counseling psychology on each of these seven planes, suggestions for fortifying the weaker links and enhancing the vitality of the stronger links are offered.

Factors Influencing the Stated Career Goals of Minority Graduate Students in Counseling Psychology Programs

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence the stated career goals that racial and ethnic minority graduate students in counseling psychology make while pursuing their graduate education. A national sample of 118 minority students, representing 50 training programs, participated. Participants completed a career goal instrument and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that most counseling psychology minority students preferred combined academic and practitioner career goals, whereas few were interested in pursuingfull-time academic careers; the presence of positive feedback and reinforcement of counseling skills were primary influences on career choices. Findings are discussed in terms of recommendations for training programs and future theoretically based studies.

Counseling Psychology in Multidisciplinary Health Settings: Implications for Future Training

Abstract: Counseling psychologists have demonstrated a growing interest in the health field at a time when major changes are occurring in reimbursement and service delivery systems. In particular, the need for broad-based comprehensive treatments within cost-effective service delivery models has led to increased use of multidisciplinary staffing arrangements and increased completion among provider groups. In this article, the authors provide a historical overview of a multidisciplinary training component that has operated within a counseling psychology training program since 1979. Lessons learned from this experience are shared, and recommendations are made for the future training of counseling psychologists who seek health-related careers.

Integrating Social and Counseling Psychological Perspectives on the Self

Abstract: Few areas present a more ideal opportunity for dialogue between counseling and social psychologists than the self Both disciplines have contributed significantly to the development of self theories and the design of methodologies suitable for understanding processes and practices relevant to the self However, counseling and social psychologists are finding it increasingly necessary to value and actively initiate interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration in order to prevent cognitive blind spots in understandings of the self In this article, the authors examine impediments to successful bridging of the disciplines and highlight areas ripe for interface within the arenas of professional training and development, theory, practice, methodology, metatheory, and epistemology. More specifically, the authors identify cultural, interpersonal, developmental, motivational, evaluative, regulatory, structural, and vocational aspects of the self that would benefit from collaborative inquiry. Throughout this articl...

Identifying and Solving Impediments to the Social and Counseling Psychology Interface

Abstract: After 30 years of scholarship, experts on the interface of counseling and social psychology are raising serious and important questions regarding its scientific and practical effectiveness and its future. Written by psychologists actively researching at the interface, this group of articles provides a conceptualization of the interface, employs that conceptualization to identify and understand impediments to effective collaboration, and proposes solutions.