Counseling Psychology Graduate Students Research Articles

The Anti-Racism Behavioral Inventory: A Validation Study

The current study extends the initial creation and validation of the Anti-Racism Behavioral Inventory (ARBI; Pieterse, Utsey & Miller, 2016), a measure designed to assess anti-racism awareness and behavior among Whites Americans. Given that the original measure was developed with a sample of graduate students in counseling psychology, the current study extends validation to a sample of White individuals who identify as anti-racism activists (N=153). Findings support the original bifactor factor model of the Anti-Racism Behavioral inventory (one general anti-racism behavior factor and three domain-specific factors: individual advocacy, awareness of racism, and institutional advocacy). Additional evidence for validity was supported through negative associations with measures of the color-blind racial attitudes, as well as positive associations with scores on the White Privilege Awareness Inventory. Implications of the findings for training and future research are discussed.

Sexuality training in counseling psychology: A mixed-methods study of student perspectives.

Counseling psychologists are a cogent fit to lead the movement toward a sex-positive professional psychology (Burnes et al., 2017a). Though centralizing training in human sexuality (HS; Mollen & Abbott, 2021) and sexual and reproductive health (Grzanka & Frantell, 2017) is congruent with counseling psychologists' values, training programs rarely require or integrate comprehensive sexuality training for their students (Mollen et al., 2020). We employed a critical mixed-methods design in the interest of centering the missing voices of doctoral-level graduate students in counseling psychology in the discussion of the importance of human sexuality competence for counseling psychologists. Using focus groups to ascertain students' perspectives on their human sexuality training (HST) in counseling psychology, responses yielded five themes: (a) HST is integral to counseling psychology training, (b) few opportunities to gain human sexuality competence, (c) inconsistent training and self-directed learning, (d) varying levels of human sexuality comfort and competence, and (e) desire for integration of HST. Survey responses suggested students were trained on the vast majority of human sexuality topics at low levels, consistent with prior studies surveying training directors in counseling psychology and at internship training sites (Abbott et al., 2021; Mollen et al., 2020). Taken together, results suggested students see HST as aligned with the social justice emphasis in counseling psychology but found their current training was inconsistent, incidental rather than intentional, and lacked depth. Recommendations, contextualized within counseling psychology values, are offered to increase opportunities for and strengthen HST in counseling psychology training programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Leveraging the Strengths of Psychologists With Lived Experience of Psychopathology

Psychopathology is a common element of the human experience, and psychological scientists are not immune. Recent empirical data demonstrate that a significant proportion of clinical, counseling, and school psychology faculty and graduate students have lived experience, both past and present, of psychopathology. This commentary compliments these findings by leveraging the perspectives of the authors and signatories, who have personal lived experience of psychopathology, to improve professional inclusivity in these fields. By “coming out proud,” the authors aim to foster discussion, research, and inclusion efforts as they relate to psychopathology experiences in psychological science. To that end, the authors describe considerations related to disclosure of lived experience, identify barriers to inclusion, and provide concrete recommendations for personal and systemic changes to improve recognition and acceptance of psychopathology lived experience among psychologists.

School Mental Health Trainees’ Perceptions of a Virtual Community-Based Partnership to Support Black Youth

This phenomenological study used individual interviews with ten graduate students in school counseling and school psychology to understand their experiences in a University-Church service-learning partnership to support PreK–12th grade youth in response to COVID-19. Most graduate participants identified as White/Non-Hispanic, and all youth served identified as Black. Hence, the study’s purpose was to examine participants’ (a) general perceptions of the program and (b) perceptions of how the program contributed to their multicultural competence and social justice-orientation. Findings reflect two broad themes for research aim one: (a) adaptive and holistic direct intervention skill development and (b) presence and connection with marginalized youth. Four broad themes emerged relative to research aim two: (a) multicultural attitudes and beliefs development, (b) multicultural knowledge development, (c) multicultural skill development, and (d) advocacy and allyship relative to social justice practice. Recommendations for school mental health training programs are offered. Impact Statement School psychology training programs have historically utilized community-based service-learning opportunities to cultivate graduate students’ multicultural competence and social justice-orientation. However, few studies have examined outcomes associated with service-learning training initiatives using online didactic training, telesupervision, and experiential learning through telehealth service delivery. Because COVID-19 has resulted in graduate programs exploring remote methods of training mental health trainees, key findings illustrate the benefits of virtual service-learning opportunities for facilitating school mental health trainees’ (including school psychology graduate students) capacity to provide accessible (i.e., telehealth), culture-centered academic, social–emotional, and behavioral support for minoritized families.

Affirmative Stances in Training Programs Toward Sexual and Gender Minority Clients: Views From Clinical and Counseling Psychology Graduate Students

ABSTRACT Despite training recommendations to address mental health disparities among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, the current state of SGM affirmative training in clinical and counseling doctoral psychology programs remains unclear. The present study surveyed 147 clinical and counseling psychology graduate students in the United States. Participants completed surveys on affirmative training stances in their graduate program for sexual minority clients, gender minority clients, and self-reported perceptions of their attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to SGM clients. Results revealed that current graduate students reported more affirmative stances for sexual minority clients compared to gender minority clients. SGM graduate students reported fewer affirmative stances in their programs for both sexual and gender minority clients compared to their heterosexual cisgender peers. Lastly, SGM identity was a significant predictor of perceived SGM clinical competency beyond years of training, program model, or type of graduate program. Implications for training and future research are discussed.

University of Houston program aims to increase MH workforce

The University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work has received a $1.9 million grant to train more social work and counseling psychology clinicians to deliver culturally competent behavioral health services in medical settings, addressing a critical statewide shortage of mental health professionals. While 60% of the mental health services in Texas are currently provided by social workers, the number of both social workers and clinical psychologists is declining, an Aug. 12 University of Houston press release stated. The funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration provides funding for the Global Leaders of Behavioral Health Education (GLOBE) team training program to increase the number of behavioral health workers targeting children, youth and young adults in medically underserved areas. Since 2012, the GLOBE team training program has worked to improve resources for vulnerable youth populations at risk for mental health and substance use disorders. This latest project will train 18 Master of Social Work and four counseling psychology graduate students per year with an emphasis on interprofessional training. Students will also be trained in health disparities, telehealth, motivational interviewing and more.

Deception detection and emotion recognition: Investigating F.A.C.E. software

Objective: Investigation of deception within psychotherapy has recently gained attention. Micro expression training software has been suggested to improve deception detection and enhance emotion recognition. The current study examined the effects of micro expression training software on deception detection and emotion recognition. Method: The current study recruited 23 counseling psychology graduate students and 32 undergraduate students and randomly assigned them to either a training group or a control group. The training and control group received all the same materials and measures pre- and post-test, with the training group differing by receiving the micro expression training. Results: Findings revealed no significant difference in deception detection between the control group and training group. The training did reveal significant improvement for emotion recognition, specifically in contempt, anger, and fear. State and trait anxiety did not predict deception detection nor did it mediate emotion recognition. No significant difference was found between graduate trainees and undergraduate students. Conclusion: The use of the F.A.C.E. software was not effective for increasing deception detection but did serve to increase emotion recognition. Implications for training, practice, and research are discussed.

The professional identity, career commitment and subjective well-being of art therapy students

This article explores the professional identity, career commitment, and subjective well-being of art therapy students compared with those of counseling psychology students. Art therapy graduate students (N=112) and counseling psychology graduate students (N=91) completed the My Vocational Situation (MVS), Career Commitment Measurement (CCM), and Concise Measure of Subjective Well-Being (COMOSWB) measures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, t-tests, and x2-tests. The results of this study are as follows: First, correlation analysis results showed that professional identity is interrelated with career commitment and subjective well-being. Second, the results of regression analysis indicated that career commitment and subjective well-being were significant predictors of professional identity. Third, comparing art therapy students with counseling psychology students revealed that there were no significant differences in professional identity and career commitment between the two groups. However, art therapy students needed much more vocational information than counseling psychology students, and they were also more likely to complain of the economic difficulties they faced in pursuing their career. In addition, the two groups showed no difference on the overall subjective well-being scale, but the counseling psychology graduate students showed higher life satisfaction and reported more positive emotions than art therapy students. Finally, this study’s implications and limitations are presented.

Clinical and Counseling Psychology Graduate Students’ Expectations for Future Work With Older Adults

In a study that sampled clinical and counseling graduate students in four countries, we examined ways in which students who do not plan to specialize in work with older adults anticipate future work with this population. Participants (n = 431) completed an online survey of geropsychology training opportunities and the Pikes Peak Geropsychology Knowledge and Skill Assessment Tool. Counseling psychology students and those pursuing a PsyD or Master’s degree were more likely to anticipate future work with older adults than clinical psychology students and those pursuing a PhD, though clinical psychology students tended to have more training opportunities in geropsychology. Content analysis was used to examine open-ended responses about expectations for future work with older adults. Themes varied by country, degree, and specialty.

The integration of science and practice in one training program: Outcomes of a manualized career counseling group

An example of training Counseling Psychology graduate students in integrating science and practice is detailed through the presentation of the development, implementation, and evaluation of a Cognitive Information Processing approach-based career counseling group. Pilot data on initial group outcomes is presented and involves a sample of 59 undergraduate students that participated in the five-session intervention developed by faculty and students. Following the intervention, participants reported significant decreases in negative thinking and significant increases in career decision-making self-efficacy. The continued development of this collaboration and benefits of involving students in their training as scientist-practitioners is discussed.

Multiple Strategies to Prevent Premature Termination in Psychotherapy

A Review of Premature Termination in Psychotherapy: Strategies for Engaging Clients and Improving Outcomes by Joshua K. Swift and Roger P. Greenberg Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 2015. 212 pp, ISBN 978-1-4338-1801- 1. $69.95 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038612 Premature Termination in Psychotherapy: Strategies for Engaging Clients and Improving Outcomes is one of the very best examples of the new generation of psychotherapy development. Based on rigorous research findings and a deep look into the preexisting literature, this book presents practical guidelines to understand premature termination and provides evidence-based strategies for how to engage patients in treatment. It will especially be a highlight for practitioners who are interested in a broad insight of the overall empirical literature. For graduate students in clinical and counseling psychology, this book might be an excellent prototype for how to bring rigorous quantitative research and convenient practice examples together.

Boundary Disturbances and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Female graduate students in counseling and clinical psychology retrospectively rated maternal and paternal boundaries in their families of origin. Subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-3 were used to assess disordered eating, including drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, bulimia symptoms, and overall risk. Results indicated that maternal enmeshment and maternal psychological control were related to disordered eating. Further, daughters who reported that their mothers shielded them from parents’ conflict and adult concerns were less likely to report drive for thinness or bulimic tendencies. With respect to paternal boundary problems, paternal infantilization (overprotection) was significantly related to daughters’ drive for thinness.

Working with and for: Student advocates' experience of relationship-centered advocacy with low-income women.

This study describes a qualitative study of student advocates' experiences of their work with low-income women struggling with symptoms of depression. Using an advocacy model called Relationship-Centered Advocacy, these 1st-year counseling psychology graduate students worked intensively with their "partners" for 9 months. Advocate-partner teams met together each week, developing collaborative relationships and addressing the women's emotional and material needs in integrated ways. Using qualitative content analysis of participant interviews and journal entries, this study describes emergent themes involving negotiating the advocacy relationship, insider-outsider dynamics, responding to perceptions of privilege and disparity, and gaining professional and personal insights. It concludes with a discussion of the practice and research implications, highlighting the possibilities of Relationship-Centered Advocacy as a new training tool.

Thru the Lenz: Participatory Action Research, Photography, and Creative Process in an Urban High School

This article describes how counseling psychology graduate students collaborated with high school students in a participatory action research project called, Thru the Lenz. This project was created in order to gain insight into the lives, experiences, and communities of the students. It utilized photography, creative processes, and a humanistic approach to relationship building. Thru the Lenz illuminates how creative expression fosters new perspectives and insights; how transparency and the leveling of hierarchies can facilitate relationships; and how empowerment is an essential component of creativity and action.

Didactic and Experiential Training to Teach Communication Skills: The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine Collaborative Experience

Teaching communication skills to veterinary students is recognized as important; however, incorporation of this into an already crowded curriculum is difficult. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine we provide mandatory communication lectures to freshmen and sophomores, and offer elective experiential courses to juniors and seniors. Providing both didactic and experiential training allows students to learn and practice communication techniques in a "safe" setting. Our approach to experiential training is unique in that graduate students in counseling psychology (masters and doctoral level) act as "clients" for the juniors, and professional simulated pet owners are hired for digitally captured role-plays with the seniors. A unique inter-professional partnership has been formed between the Schools of Veterinary Medicine, Education (Department of Counseling Psychology), and (Human) Medicine and Public Health to provide this experiential training for our students. The purpose of this article is to describe the communication training program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and to encourage other programs to reach across campus and partner with other colleges with the goal of improving training for all of the individuals involved.

Predicting Burnout and Career Choice Satisfaction in Counseling Psychology Graduate Students

Counseling psychology doctoral students ( N = 284) from 53 training programs throughout the United States anonymously completed online measures of burnout, career choice satisfaction, global stress, role conflict, social support (from family/friends, advisors, other students) and psychological sense of community (SOC) in the doctoral program. Two hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to test hypotheses that social support would buffer the effects of stress on burnout and career choice satisfaction. For burnout, neither social support nor SOC significantly moderated the effects of stress on burnout; however, global stress, advisor support, and SOC were significant predictors. For career choice satisfaction, SOC was a significant single predictor and moderated the effects of global stress. Under low stress, career choice satisfaction increased as SOC increased. Under high stress, these moderating effects seemed to disappear.

Retrospective Dream Components and Musical Preferences

Retrospective dream components endorsed on the KJP Dream Inventory were correlated with those on the Short Test of Musical Preference for 68 graduate students in counseling psychology (11 men). Among 40 correlations, 6 were significant between preferences for Heavy Metal and Dissociative avoidance dreams (.32), Dreaming that you are dreaming (.40), Dreaming that you have fallen unconscious or asleep (.41), Recurring pleasantness (.31), and Awakening abruptly from a dream (-.31); between preferences for Rap/Hip-Hop and Sexual dreams (.27); and between preferences for Jazz and Recurring pleasantness in dreams (.33). Subjects preferring Classical music reported a higher incidence of Dreams of flying (.33) and rated higher Discontentedness in dreams (-.26). The meaning of these low values awaits research based on personality inventories and full dream reports.

The March of Remembrance and Hope: Teaching and Learning about Diversity and Social Justice through the Holocaust

Background Experiential learning has been posited as an approach to influencing preservice teachers’ understanding of diversity and social justice. The research reported here examined the impact of a field-based experience in Poland focused on the Holocaust as it pertained to the beliefs and actions of 12 future education professionals. This program, the March of Remembrance and Hope (MRH), took place in Poland in May 2003; the pretrip preparation occurred in January-May 2003 at a large southeastern university. Five of the participants were preservice teachers, and 7 were graduate students in either counseling psychology or school psychology. The MRH is an international interfaith trip to Holocaust sites in Poland, sponsored by the March of the Living, Israel. The MRH educates participants, primarily Gentiles, about the Holocaust and the dangers of intolerance and racism. Purpose of Study The authors are teacher educators committed to multicultural teacher education and teaching about social justice. Thus, we generated the following questions to guide this research: (1) How did the experience of the MRH influence participants’ knowledge of, attitudes about, and actions regarding diversity? (2) How, if at all, did participants connect the MRH experience to issues of social justice? Research Design Three case studies, exemplars of the impact of this experience, are presented and discussed in relation to the literature on effective multicultural teacher education, experiential education, and Holocaust education. Conclusions Results indicated that the MRH had a significant effect on the thinking and actions of students related to diversity and social justice. If the goal of multicultural education is to facilitate changes in future education professionals’ knowledge, beliefs, and actions, then it is important to take note of the aspects of the MRH experience that so affected Silas, Rachel, and Penny, the students described in the case studies. The literature on teacher education for diversity indicates that traditional approaches to multicultural education have minimal long-term impact. By contrast, the effects of the MRH took time to process and, as of this writing, appear not to have faded over time. And, although the academic preparation was critical to their understanding of the Holocaust, the authentic experience of the MRH had the greatest impact on these students’ thinking about diversity and their willingness to take action against social injustice.

Incidence of Having Dreamed and Conservative Political Attitudes

The association of political attitudes of conservatives and reports of their having had a dream was investigated. 48 female graduate students in counseling psychology were given the KJP Dream Inventory and the Kerlinger Social Attitude Scale II. Scores on conservative political attitudes were positively correlated with having had Dreams of Falling (.40), Dream Discontentedness (.31), Dreams of Being Chased (.40), and Dreams of Being Famous (.30). Negative correlations were observed between scores showing a conservative political tendency and scores on Openness (-.35), and Uninhibitedness (-.50), as well as incidence of Dreams of Sex (-.29). The character of conservative dreaming is discussed along with the study's relevance to past and subsequent issues in research.

Psychology Students' Training in the Management of Potentially Violent Clients.

Client violence has been reported as one of student practitioners' greatest concerns. This study examined counseling and clinical psychology graduate students' exposure to client violence, perceptions of training receivedin managing potentially violent clients, and confidence in working with this population. Students reported that their training in the management of potentially violent clients was inadequate and that their confidence in working with this population was low. A positive correlation between perception of training and confidence in managing potentially violent clients provides support for more comprehensive training efforts for students in the management of potentially violent clients. Training suggestions are presented.