Campus Counseling Centers Research Articles

Hidden Trauma, Quiet Drama: The Prominence and Consequence of Complicated Grief Among College Students

Previous studies suggest the loss of a loved one is a common experience among college students. This paper draws from 2 independent but complementary studies to (a) update statistics regarding the scale of student grieving, (b) characterize the short and long term consequences of loss among college students, and (c) identify factors that deter grieving students from seeking professional assistance at campus counseling centers. The paper concludes with suggestions for ways in which institutions can help affected students stay on track to college success.

Publishing in the Journal of College Counseling: Tips From the Editors (Part 1)

In the last issue, I offered readers and potential authors some tips and guidance for submitting research-based manuscripts for review to the Journal of College Counseling (JCC). My goal was to share feedback from the journal's senior editorial staff based on their experiences with the review process that would enable prospective authors to better craft their work to meet the needs and expectations of JCC readers. In this issue, I will share some insights related to the submission of practice-based manuscripts. An important part of the counseling literature, the utility of these manuscripts is based largely on how they are constructed and the message or issue they address. Since its inception in 1998, the mission of JCC has been to advance the college counseling knowledge base and inform the practice of counseling professionals at 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. In fulfillment of this mission, the journal actively seeks submissions under the Professional Issues and Innovative Practice category because these manuscripts have the potential to stimulate professional discussions and share new treatment designs and strategies to college counselors nationwide. Documenting the popularity and quality of these types of manuscripts, a recent metastudy of JCC content revealed that 40.7% of all manuscripts published in the journal between 1998 and 2009 were in the Professional Issues and Innovative Practice category (Byrd, Crockett, & Erford, 2012). Although they are included in the same category, there are distinct differences in the purpose and format of manuscripts related to Professional Issues and to Innovative Practice that warrant a separate discussion of each. Professional Issues Manuscripts Professional Issues manuscripts are designed to facilitate discussion of emerging trends and contemporary topics. The JCC author guidelines (a copy of which is included in this issue) state that Professional Issues manuscripts should present an in-depth analysis and discussion of current issues related to the practice of counseling professionals in higher education settings. Furthermore, Professional Issues manuscripts should include a critical review of the relevant literature and research related to the professional issue and offer implications for professional practice and future research. Basically, these manuscripts provide a venue for professionals to share how they are dealing with changes in student demographics, university policies, presenting concerns, and resource allocations to meet the needs of their campus students. When crafting Professional Issues manuscripts, authors should consider their intended audience. As Guiffrida, Schwitzer, and Choate (2006) noted, the journal readership includes many different types of professionals: counselors, program coordinators, university administrators, and graduate training faculty. Clearly identifying which constituencies might be most interested in the topic being presented will help frame the manuscript in a manner that increases its relevance. Potential authors should consider what the particular issue they plan to write about means for the practice of college counseling and whom it is most likely to affect. For example, issues related to the strategic use of available campus resources may be of most interest to counseling center directors who are charged with the day-to-day operations of the campus's counseling center activities. On the other hand, issues related to academic outcomes and student retention may appeal more to university administrators who will use this information to support their efforts to procure additional resources from state and federal policy makers to fund counseling center initiatives. Specifically, potential authors should focus on addressing what the issue is, why it is important, to whom is it important, what the potential impact of this issue might be, and how it could best be addressed. Another tip for potential authors is to ensure that an unbiased presentation of the issue is included. …

Population-based initiatives in college mental health: students helping students to overcome obstacles.

College students' need for mental health care has increased dramatically, leaving campus counseling and mental health centers struggling to meet the demand. This has led to the investigation and development of extra-center, population-based interventions. Student-to-student support programs are but one example. Students themselves are a plentiful, often-untapped resource that extends the reach of mental health services on campus. Student-to-student programs capitalize on students' natural inclination to assist their peers. A brief review of the prevalence and effects of mental disorders in the college population is provided, followed by a broad overview of the range of peer-to-peer programs that can be available on college campuses. Two innovative programs are highlighted: (1) a hospital- and community-based program, the College Mental Health Program (CMHP) at McLean Hospital, and 2) the Student Support Network (SSN) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The subsequent section reviews the literature on peer-to-peer programs for students with serious and persistent mental illness for which there is a small but generally positive body of research. This lack of an empirical basis in college mental health leads the authors to argue for development of broad practice-research networks.

Examining Treatment‐Seeking College Students With and Without Military Experience and Trauma Histories

An increasing number of veterans are returning from war, many with mental health problems. Some of these returning veterans will enroll in college, and it is important that campus counseling centers can meet the needs of this population. This study examined psychological distress among students with and without military experience. Results indicated that students with military experience showed elevated rates of hostility and family concerns. Clinical implications are discussed.

Ready, Fire, Aim: The College Campus Gun Fight

The question of whether guns should be permitted on college and university campuses in the United States reflects the tension between two competing perspectives. America has both a robust gun culture and an equally robust (if less well known) gun-control culture. The gun culture is as American as apple pie: There may be as many as 300 million civilian guns in the US, or about one for every person (Winkler, 2011a). The gun-control culture also has a long history in the U.S. The issue of guns on college campuses is presently a subject of vigorous debate, stimulated by newspaper and on-line headlines. This article asks the question: Does either the MoreGuns or the BanGuns position improve public safety? Two major national studies have used similar data to examine the relationship between gun ownership and degree of criminal activity--and they reached diametrically opposed conclusions. One found that allowing citizens without criminal records or histories of significant mental illness to carry concealed handguns deters violent (Lott & Mustard, 1997). The other concluded that statistical evidence that these [concealed-carry] laws have reduced crime is limited, sporadic, and extraordinarily fragile, and it suggested that making it easier to get a firearms permit is associated with higher levels of crime (Ayres & Donohue III, 2003). Any successful proposal to either permit or restrict the presence of guns on campus must be consistent with both the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions and laws of the states. Since the ostensible purpose of campus firearms policies is to improve campus safety, describing the actual incidence of crime on campus might help clarify the issues over which the MoreGuns/BanGuns camps are contending. Such data are available because the Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 authorizes the Department of Education to collect and analyze incidents of crime on every U.S. college campus. This law, known as the Clery Act, requires each institution to annually report and disclose, among other things, the number of alleged campus incidents of criminal activity reported to the campus or local police agencies. This is the source of the numbers reported in this article, even though Clery Act data have been criticized because institutions may differ in their interpretations of the self-reporting requirements and may fail to report some offenses in order to protect their reputations. In addition, students may be reluctant to report crimes, and campus counseling centers may withhold information based on confidentiality concerns. The data reported in this article are based on all reported on-campus incidents in U.S. degree-granting, not-for-profit campuses. Three analyses are presented. The first is the incidence of specific types of campus crime in 2010; the second, comparative rates of violent criminal behavior on campuses and in the general population; and the third, campus and general-population data related to the two violent crimes of murder and manslaughter. Additional resources are provided. Language: en

International Students’ Likelihood to Seek Counseling while Studying Abroad

International students experience significant stressors while studying in American colleges and universities, yet they use psychological services far less than domestic students (Misra & Castillo, 2004). Factors such as previous experience with counseling, perceived effectiveness of counseling style, and nationality were found to be factors affecting international students’ use of counseling services (Dadfar & Friedlander’s, 1982; Mori, 2000; Hyun, Quinn, Madon, & Lustig, 2007). This action research study adds to the literature by presenting suggestions about the manner in which international students may be most effectively served by their campus counseling centers, using information drawn from a focus group and a survey.

Practicing in the 21st Century College Counseling Center

Although college and university counseling centers often struggle with misperceptions of their work and their role in the campus community, limited research has addressed this issue. In this article, common campus misperceptions are explored. Among the issues that often increase the misperception of counselors and counseling services include misunderstandings by campus departments about the role of counseling for students, the perception that counseling is often a solution to any emotional or behavioral issue, and the difficulty of avoiding dual relationships with students on many campuses. Implications for campus counseling centers, including strategies for combating misperceptions, are discussed.

Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004.

Client characterization is an important step in evaluating the services offered by campus counseling and mental health centers and in their further planning and development. The objectives here were to describe reported complaints and demographics among students who sought counseling/mental healthcare at a Brazilian campus mental health service over a 17-year period and to compare these characteristics with those of the general university student body. Retrospective study at the Psychological and Psychiatric Service for Students (SAPPE), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). The participants were all of the 2,194 students who sought counseling/mental health care at SAPPE from 1987 to 2004. Information was obtained from clients clinical charts. Unicamps database was consulted for general information on its students. The findings indicated overrepresentation, among the clients, of undergraduates, female students, students from Brazilian states other than São Paulo, students living in the campus residence hall and those whose main source of income was a scholarship grant. We also found overrepresentation of Humanities and Arts students among the clients. The most frequently reported complaints were difficulties in interpersonal relationships, family conflicts and poor academic performance. Course level (undergraduate or postgraduate), study field, living in a university residential facility and reliance on a scholarship grant were found to influence the behavior of seeking mental health counseling among Brazilian university students in this study. Course level was found to influence the pattern of complaints reported at first contact with the mental health service.

A National Survey of Small College Counseling Centers

The policies and practices of small college counseling centers have been neglected in the literature at a time when campus mental health services are under scrutiny. A national sample of 181 small campus counseling center directors responded to the Iowa Counseling Center Survey-Revised. Their responses were compared with information about large university counseling centers, as assessed in a previous national survey (Stone, Vespia, & Kanz, 2000). With a modal full-time staff of one, small centers faced professional isolation and diverse student needs. They were significantly less likely than large universities to employ psychologists, assign DSM-IV diagnoses, or use formal treatment plans. They were more apt to provide long-term therapy and follow-up with referred clients. Research, clinical, and training implications are discussed.

Rape at US Colleges Often Fueled by Alcohol

by psychologists who provide such help, along with general counseling. A study counselor who suspects that anxiety or depression is contributing to the student’s difficulty may refer the individual to the mental health service, staffed by psychiatrists and others who treat psychiatric disorders and also providegeneral collegecounseling.Astudent may ask a residential wellness tutor for advice on eating better, and the tutor may steer the student to a specialist in eating disorders. Dormitorybased peer counselors, who meet weekly with supervisors, also offer aid, usually in the evenings and on weekends. More than 90% of referrals to the campus counseling center come from residential staff members trained to recognize depression symptoms, Barreira said. These individuals, usually graduate students in professional schools or junior faculty who also work as academic advisors, live in the dormitories, providing an adult presence there. Because impulsive behavior is a key concern, each of the psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers at the mental health service keeps open slots every day for urgent care or triage visits, Barreira said. This strategy enables clinicians to make an immediate connection with troubled students, he noted. Harvard does not mandate treatment nor require students who have been hospitalized to leave, Barreira said. “We prefer to work with the student and often the family to determine what action is in the best interest of the student,” he said. “The student needs to own the decision.”

The Impact of Prior Counseling on Predictors of College Counseling Center Use

Path analyses revealed that one's tendency to conceal distressing information, social support, psychological distress, and attitudes toward seeking help predicted intended use of counseling services for college students who had and had not previously been in counseling. Prospective analyses revealed that attitudes toward seeking help predicted actual use of the campus counseling center. These findings have implications for campus outreach programs and in‐session work with clients.

Predictors of satisfaction with counseling: Racial and ethnic minority clients' attitudes toward counseling and ratings of their counselors' general and multicultural counseling competence.

One hundred twelve college students of color who sought and terminated mental health treatment at their campus counseling center were asked to indicate their (a) attitudes toward counseling, (b) ratings of their counselors' general counseling competence, (c) ratings of their counselors' multicultural competence, and (d) satisfaction with counseling. Results revealed that these students' counseling attitudes and perceptions of their counselors' general and multicultural competence each accounted for significant variance in their satisfaction with counseling. Of particular note was the finding that racial and ethnic minority clients' ratings of their counselors' multicultural counseling competence explained significant variance in satisfaction ratings beyond the variance previously accounted for by their general counseling competence ratings. Moreover, results revealed that clients' ratings of their counselors' multicultural counseling competence partially mediated the relationship between general counseling competence ratings and satisfaction with counseling.

Precipitating Events and Presenting Problems of University Counseling Center Clients

ABSTRACT Over a period of twelve months, clients' presenting complaints at intake were categorized and therapists rated the precipitating events that brought clients (N = 1,117) to the University's Counseling Center. Using two instruments [the Inventory of Common Problems (ICP) and the Therapist Rating Fomi (TRF)], the differences across gender, age, class standing, and prior counseling experience were explored. It was hypothesized that females and students with prior counseling would have higher scores, indicating greater subjective distress, on the ICP; that students rated by therapists to be in a situational crisis or have frank psychopathology would have higher ICP scores than those judged to be in a developmental crisis; and that graduate students would be less likely rated by therapists to be in developmental crises than would undergraduates. The first three of the four hypotheses were confirmed. Implications for the mission of a campus counseling center were discussed in the light of these findings.

Students' Perceptions of Gender Discrepancy in the Use of Counseling Center Services

Abstract Undergraduate seniors from a small, selective university in the northeastern United States (N = 1,036) were surveyed about their perceptions of counseling center use by gender. Specifically, students were asked if they would expect to find considerably more men, considerably more women, or roughly equal numbers of men and women utilizing the services of their campus counseling center. Using a single-sample chi square for goodness of fit the null hypothesis was rejected for the entire sample and for males and females separately. In addition, a 2 × 3 multiple-sample chi square revealed a statistically significant relationship between gender and item response. Females were highly likely to see the counseling center as a service utilized primarily by women while males were more likely than females to view the center as a service utilized by equal numbers of men and women.

Female University Students' Perceived Utility of Counseling Centers

The literature describes various models for campus counseling centers. Models of student development suggest that need for counseling may emerge at particular stages in collegians' careers. In this investigation university first-year, sophomore, junior, and senior women reported their expectations of helpfulness and expected satisfaction from counseling centers offering vocational guidance, or psychotherapy, or traditional models of service. Issues involving the interface of counseling center models and students' needs are discussed.

Chapter 13 Homicide in the University Residence Halls:

On May 15, 1990, two students were murdered by a third student in the residence halls of a public university. The campus counseling center's attempt to assist the university community to adjust in the aftermath, including services to students, resident halls' staff and residents, university officals, and victims' families, is discussed. Responses to the anniversary of the homicides a year later, recommendations for counseling centers, and a stress management handout for students are provided.

Intentionalizing Brief College Student Psychotherapy

Although brief therapy has been found to be both effective and efficient in campus counseling and mental health centers, there is often resistance to its employment. A review of literature suggests that two concerns underlie this resistance: (1) that brief models reduce the professional autonomy of staff and (2) that changes accomplished in brief therapy are less substantive that those achieved through time-unlimited modes. The present article draws upon research and practice literatures to address these concerns, highlighting ways in which brevity can be achieved by design, rather than default.

Medical withdrawals from college for mental health reasons and their relation to academic performance.

A collaborative study among the university health service, the dean's office, and the registrar's office examined the academic performance of 77 students who took medical withdrawals for mental health reasons from Dartmouth College during a 3-year period. In 71.4% of the cases, students withdrew from a term in progress; the remainder arranged to withdraw after they had completed a term but before starting a new term. Depression was a major factor in approximately half of the withdrawals. Grade point average improved significantly after return from the withdrawal, with a large jump in individual term averages occurring between the terms immediately preceding and immediately following return. We found no significant difference between the number of students who experienced disciplinary trouble before withdrawal and those who were disciplined afterward. Students who were depressed at the time of withdrawal did not fare as well academically upon return as those students who had not been depressed. The data suggest that procedures for handling mental health withdrawals and readmission are important ways in which the campus counseling center can support the university's academic mission.

Asian-American acculturation, severity of concerns, and willingness to see a counselor.

Asian Americans at a major West Coast university were surveyed to determine how severe each of 24 problems was for them and to assess their willingness to see a counselor for each problem. Factor analysis reduced the 24 problems to 8 areas of concern. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that severity ratings for the 8 concerns were related to acculturation and ethnicity. With severity ratings as covariates, a repeated measures analysis of covariance was computed for willingness to see a counselor ratings. Willingness to see a counselor was found to be related to both acculturation and gender across all 8 concerns. Women expressed greater willingness to see the counselor than did men and low-medium acculturated students expressed greater willingness to see a counselor than did high-acculturated students. In an extensive review of research on counseling and psychotherapy with Asian Americans, Leong (1986) concluded that Asian Americans' underutilization of mental health services is well documented, despite some evidence of higher than normal need for services. A number of hypotheses, most of which assume a conflict between the psychotherapy process and the values of traditional A*sian-American culture, have been offered to explain this pattern of underutilization. For example, it has been hypothesized that Asian Americans avoid mental health services because to seek outside help will bring shame upon their families (Root, 1985; Webster & Fretz, 1978). It also has been hypothesized that Asian Americans underutilize mental health services because they are socialized to internalize stress and repress feelings (Sue & Kitano, 1973; Sue & Morishima, 1982). Furthermore, they may be socialized to believe that psychological problems are the result of bad thoughts and a lack of willpower and that they must resolve problems of this type on their own (Root, 1985). Moreover, when Asian-American students do seek help, their presenting concerns are often different from Caucasian students. Sue and Kirk's (1975) study of students at the University of California, Berkeley, revealed that Asian-American students overutilized the campus counseling center but underutilized the psychiatric clinic when compared to general student use patterns. Sue and Kirk suggested that this was due to the less stigmatized services provided by the counseling center (e.g., academic and career counseling) than the services provided at the psychiatric clinic (e.g., mental health counseling); Asian Americans may be more reluctant than other groups to seek help for stigmatized mental health concerns. Tracey, Leong, and Glidden (1986) found additional support for this hypothesis. They reported that Asian-American clients were more likely to cite educational or vocational concerns

The Development and Validation of a Preliminary Measure for Student Evaluation of Group Counseling Experiences

For a sample of 99 university students who participated in group counseling sessions at a campus counseling center, an effort was made to determine the factorial validity of a preliminary scale for student evaluation of group counseling. A factor analysis of the intercorrelations associated with the 11 subscales of the instrument entitled Scale for the Evaluation of Group Counseling Experiences (SEGCE) yielded three dimensions, two of which were easily intepreted. In this self-report instrument, the three factor dimensions reflecting student perceptions of the group experience were identified as (a) Satisfying Experience, (b) Interpersonal Learning, and (c) Increasing Self-Confidence. The results of this factor analysis and those of a detailed item analysis were used to develop a new form of the SEGCE which reduced the number of items from 118 to 79. This new form will soon be undergoing psychometric analysis, the results of which will be subsequently reported.