Journal of Counseling and Development最新文献

Research has failed to consistently show that therapists facilitate better client outcomes as they gain more experience. The present study was designed to examine changes in early client retention over the course of extended periods of time among 2591 therapists in private practice. Naturalistic data collected between 2018 and 2022 was extracted from a technology-enabled practice-research group (PRG). Therapists displayed an increase in client dropout rates as they gained more experience on the PRG. Additionally, larger caseloads on the PRG were associated with lower increases in client dropout over time. Finally, therapists working with clients paying higher out-of-pocket fees (e.g., co-pays) had higher increases in client dropout over time. These findings provide additional evidence supporting the distinction between clinical experience and expertise.

Increasing socioeconomic challenges and their impacts on mental health support the importance of assessing clients’ social determinants of mental health (SDMH) challenges. We examined counseling clients’ (N = 390) experiences with SDMH assessment in counseling using the Client Perceptions of SDMH Assessment Scale (CP-SDMH). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a three-factor structure for the CP-SDMH. Results suggest potential biases in SDMH assessment practices. Clients reported that SDMH assessment most often occurred verbally and in relation to health and economic issues. Disparities emerged, indicating higher assessment frequency for Black/African American clients compared to White clients, and lower SDMH assessment rates for clients in specific settings, such as private practices. Furthermore, results indicate a significant positive correlation between assessment of SDMH challenges and client satisfaction. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.

Single-case research designs (SCRDs) are a vital tool for researchers and practitioners in counseling to evaluate intervention and treatment effectiveness. This content analysis reviews the application of SCRDs in counseling to highlight knowledge accrued and existing gaps in the literature. We evaluated the methodological design and reporting adherence against recommended guidelines to provide guidance for future research. We included 50 SCRDs published between 2015 and 2021 across 15 journals (42 reviewed). Content results showed several trends, strengths, and areas of improvement in counseling SCRDs. No studies completely met the What Works Clearinghouse (2022) design standards or Single-Case Reporting Guideline in Behavioural Interventions (SCRIBE) reporting standards, yet several indicators had high levels of adherence. We discuss how the experimental design process can be enhanced to improve the internal validity, ways to improve transparency in reporting SCRD results, and the importance of contextualizing SCRD methodology to the counseling field.

The authors implemented an A–B–A with follow-up quasi-experimental single-case research design to assess the effectiveness of a consumer-grade neurofeedback (NFB)-assisted mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for reducing anxiety in high-achieving high school students (N = 5). Three of the participants from racial/ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds reported reduced anxiety as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Youth (STAI-Y) during the intervention. In contrast, the two participants who identified as White, higher SES did not report decreased anxiety during the intervention. Results provide initial support for the use of the NFB-assisted MBI used in this study as a brief, targeted intervention for highly anxious, high-achieving high school students—specifically those from racial/ethnic minority and lower SES backgrounds. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

The present study explored the interrelationship among counselor burnout, person–environment fit, and job crafting via a latent profile analysis (LPA). Using a sample of 451 school counselors (76.9% women, 23.1% men) in Türkiye, the LPA revealed three distinct profiles regarding adaptation to the environment (maladaptive, average, and adaptive). The auxiliary variable analysis showed that career adaptability and its components (i.e., concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) increased the likelihood of school counselors’ membership in the adaptive group. In addition, the results showed significant mean differences in the levels of positive affect and negative affect across profile memberships, such that the adaptive group had the highest positive affect and the lowest negative affect. Implications are discussed.

In this article, we examine prolonged grief through an existential theoretical lens. In particular, we critically compare criteria for prolonged grief disorder with existential theoretical principles, including existential phenomenology, existential relatedness, and existential givens of human existence: death anxiety, existential freedom, existential isolation, and existential meaning/meaninglessness. We explore how existential perspectives and principles provide a clinically useful explanation for the presence and etiology of many of the symptoms of prolonged grief. We also describe counseling implications for treating prolonged grief phenomenologically, relationally, and through the lens of the four existential givens.

Social justice is listed as a professional value for the American Counseling Association (ACA) (2014), yet professional publication in this topic may not be commensurate with its importance to the profession. This article presents the results of a qualitative content analysis (QCA, Schreier, 2012) of titles and abstracts of 917 articles in 18 ACA journals and one American School Counselor Association journal to document each journal's publication rate of social justice-related articles for 2 years: 2018 (2 years before the ACA Anti-Racism Statement, 2020) and 2022 (2 years after the statement). Results for each journal are presented, and topics of social justice content are listed. Implications are provided for researchers, association leaders, editors, and reviewers.

The history of talk therapy is characterized by ideological trends rather than incremental progress. When a new trend is ascendant, insights from prior eras may be forgotten or lost. Currently, counseling is arguably dominated by an ideology of symptom reduction. Therefore, insights from the prior exploratory phase of talk therapy may be difficult for modern practitioners to access. I discuss eight important lessons that contemporary counselors can learn from exploratory therapies.

Stigma remains a significant barrier preventing individuals from seeking the support they need, particularly for individuals with East Asian heritages. To explore potential mechanisms, this study examined links from East Asian ideologies to mental health help-seeking attitudes and peace of mind across five cultural groups: 322 respondents in China, 400 in Japan, 362 in Taiwan, 319 Asian Americans, and 688 white Americans. The three teachings of East Asia accounted for 31%–85% of the cross-cultural differences in mental health attitudes and peace of mind. Empowering Confucian tenets (self-cultivation, leading by example, and human heartedness), Taoism, and Buddhism all uniquely predicted greater peace of mind across most of the groups. Empowering Confucianism also predicted lower mental health stigma whereas Buddhism predicted greater stigma. Finally, Restrictive Confucian tenets (e.g., interpersonal harmony, propriety, and relational hierarchy) predicted greater stigma and lower peace of mind. Implications for addressing stigma/resistance within treatment and for promoting mental health across cultures are discussed.

The view of Black male identities has historically been distorted. Traditionally, it has reflected the dehumanization of Black males through the lens of criminality and lacking dignity. However, in a similar fashion, little is known about the Black males in counseling, due to simultaneous under examination in empirical literature. Therefore, the researchers conducted a content analysis on the family of American Counseling Association and affiliate journals to observe the current state of scholarship on Black males’ experiences with counseling. Using an intersectional lens to the approach, our review yielded 102 articles on Black males' experiences with counseling published between 1972 and 2022. Implications for culturally responsive practices and counselor education are further discussed.