School Counseling Interventions Research Articles

A Call for School Counselors to Rethink Strengths-Based Interventions Toward Hispanic Students

ABSTRACT This conceptual paper discusses how the interaction between risk and protective processes yields the outcome of resilience among Hispanic K-12 students. It applies a cultural-ecological-transactional model to support the use of strengths-based school counseling interventions that can authentically build upon the resilience of Hispanic students.

Mechanisms of Change in School Counseling Intervention Studies: A Content Analysis

The purpose of this content analysis was to examine the use of theory in school-counselor-led interventions. Specifically, we examined intervention characteristics, evaluation design, and use of theory in school-counselor-led intervention studies that were published by the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), and in other school-counseling-related journals from 2003 to 2022. Drawing from 45 published articles, results indicated that few school counseling articles explicitly included ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors (ASCA, 2021) or integrated formal counseling theory to inform student outcomes.

The Justification of Moral Values for Students in Akwa Ibom State Schools and Colleges

This paper seeks to examine closely the concept of moral values in general, its relevance and justifications in promoting and cultivating moral values for students in Akwa Ibom State schools and colleges. The paper employed the philosophical methods of criticism, speculation and analysis. The work is relevant to stakeholders in education, viz, Government, educationist, teachers, parents, school managers and administrators. It is also relevant to students in Akwa Ibom State schools and beyond. It is recommended that if moral values are encouraged and integrated into school system, class curricula and counseling interventions, the resultant positive effects would be peaceful school environment. This would promote productivity and significant academic excellence.

Young children's career aspirations: Gender differences, STEM ambitions, and expected skill use

AbstractThis study examines young children's career aspirations, gender differences in those aspirations, and children's perceptions of the amount of math and science used in careers. We asked 1634 students in first to third grades what job they wanted in the future and how much they thought they would use math or science in it. Career aspirations were sorted into 27 career categories, of which 12 showed significant gender differences. Notably, boys were more likely to indicate military, manual labor, and math/computer science careers, and girls were more likely to indicate stay at home parent, education, and animal care careers. Students aspiring to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers thought they would use science, but not math, more than non‐STEM‐aspiring students did. School counseling interventions focused on specific STEM subfields, and education highlighting links between school subjects and careers requirements may benefit students and reduce gender inequality in STEM fields.

Processing a White Supremacist Insurrection Through Hip-Hop Mixtape Making: A School Counseling Intervention

ABSTRACT In this New York City, New York-based study, we made use of a Critical Cycle of Mixtape Creation (CCMC) intervention to examine a Bangladeshi high school student’s understanding of justice, and the impact of injustice on his well-being, through his creation of and reflection on original hip-hop song lyrics. The student participated in the CCMC intervention amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Black Lives Movement, and crucially the white supremacist insurrection on January 6, 2021. Findings indicate that the CCMC enabled the student to process systemic racism and injustices with peers on his own terms and to further develop a knowledge of self. This study offers practical insights for school counselors to use hip-hop interventions with youth to collectively process the world around them.

Parentification as a Social Determinant of Health: Implications for School Counselors

Parentification has been found to impact both the short- and long-term physical, mental, and social/emotional well-being of children and adolescents and can be viewed as a social determinant of health. The COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded these effects. We demonstrate how school counselors are uniquely positioned to identify and assist parentified students. Using a multitiered approach, we suggest school counseling strategies and interventions that support this vulnerable group of students.

The benefits of group counseling in career and educational settings. Online group work as an alternative intervention in a post-pandemic world

Group counseling is one intervention that seems to be perceived as less valuable than individual ones in helping professions. In countries where counseling is still in an emerging stage, there is sometimes little to no specific training in group skills for future counselors. This paper addresses the history of group work in helping professions, the types of groups in career settings, the benefits and limitations of group interventions, and the opportunity offered by increasing interest and access to online interventions. The study covers the implications of the social and psychological outcomes of the COVID-pandemic on school and career counseling interventions. Challenges for practitioners and educators in countries where counseling is not a recognized profession are analyzed.

Lyric writing as an emotion processing intervention for school counselors: Hip-Hop Spoken Word Therapy and Motivational Interviewing

ABSTRACT While scholarship suggests Black and Brown youth disproportionately experience stressors that can disrupt cognitive and emotional regulatory processes, the recognize the resilience and innovation that Black and Brown youth have demonstrated amidst exposure to systemic stressors. Given this reality, school counselors are responsible for adopting strategies that center Black and Brown youth’s internal capacity to foster authentic, emotional, development. This paper describes a culturally responsive school counseling intervention that leverages evidence-based counseling theory and hip-hop cultural practices to aid student’s internal social and emotional potential. Specifically, the amalgamation of Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Therapy and Motivational Interviewing offers school counselors a social and emotional learning framework designed to engage with the complex intersectionality and emotional experiences of Black and Brown youth. A conceptual framing is presented herein, followed by tangible strategies for school counselors, an illustrative case study, and implications for practice and future research.

Culturally Diverse Middle School Students’ Perceptions of a Social and Emotional Learning and Mindfulness School Counseling Intervention

ABSTRACT Minoritized students in Title 1 schools face myriad oppressive forces that can negatively affect their academic and social-emotional development. It is imperative that interventions delivered in schools promote self-empowerment by cultivating student capacities in culturally apposite ways. The authors describe the results of a longitudinal phenomenological qualitative study of 57 culturally diverse middle school students who participated in a combined social and emotional learning and mindfulness, as consistent with the Advocating Student-within-Environment school counseling theory and practice scheme. Emerging themes included changes in students’ expression of emotions, enhanced self-control over cognitive responses, enhanced self-control over behavioral reactions, greater sense of connectedness, and use of mindfulness dispositions. The authors address implications of the results and considerations for future research.

Growth in Middle School Students’ Curiosity, Executive Functioning, and Academic Achievement: Results From a Theory-Informed SEL and MBI School Counseling Intervention

The authors investigated a combined social and emotional learning and mindfulness-based intervention as delivered by school counselors to students in classrooms and their teachers using consultation practices. The study used a cluster-randomized design at the classroom level, with an ethnically diverse sample of 109 middle school students divided between treatment and delayed treatment groups. Analyses found significant intervention effects for the treatment group in students’ changes in stress tolerance, social curiosity, executive functioning (i.e., shift, plan and organize, and task monitoring), and academic achievement (i.e., mathematics, science, English, and social studies). Implications of these findings evince how theory-informed school counseling can contribute to important outcomes in educational settings.

Using the CSCORE Protocol to Identify Evidence-Based Practices in School Counseling Intervention Research

Definitions of what constitutes evidence-based practice (EBP) are often debated across disciplines, including school counseling. The Ronald H. Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation (CSCORE) offers a research coding protocol to determine EBPs. This protocol was used in this review to evaluate select school counseling intervention research studies (N = 13) in the social emotional domain. Results revealed that none of the identified interventions met all criteria of the protocol and confirmed the persistent issues of research quality in school counseling intervention research. However, the variable strengths and limitations of the research included in this review may be worth considering in the context of school counseling theory to practice. Implications regarding the state of intervention research and EBPs in school counseling are discussed.

Kindergartners Are Ready to Learn: Applying Student‐Within‐Environment Theory to a School Counseling Intervention

The authors delivered a school counseling intervention grounded in advocating student‐within‐environment theory (Lemberger, 2010) to 57 kindergarten students. Using an action research design, 2 school counselors implemented the intervention in 5 classrooms. Program participation resulted in enhanced executive function and social‐emotional learning skills. Implications for practice and research are provided.

Introduction to the Special Issue

In this introduction to the special issue of Professional School Counseling on urban school counseling, the guest editors discuss the challenges faced by urban students and the gap in recent scholarship on this topic. Research and literature in this special issue highlight school counseling strategies and interventions that demonstrate positive outcomes and practical strategies for working with this population. Articles address college and career readiness, university–family–community partnerships, use of child–teacher relationship training, and strategies for establishing a culturally sustaining comprehensive school counseling program.

Do Social Threat Cognitions Decrease With School-Based CBT and Predict Treatment Outcome in Adolescents With Social Anxiety Disorder?

Evidence suggests that Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is less responsive to cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) compared to other anxiety disorders. Therefore, exploring what might facilitate clinical benefit is essential. Social threat cognitions, characterized by exaggerated perceptions of negative evaluation by others, may be one important avenue to examine. The current study investigated whether youths' social threat cognitions decreased with Skills for Academic and Social Success (SASS), a group, school-based CBT designed for SAD, and whether decreases predicted SAD severity and treatment response. Participants included 138 high school students with SAD randomly assigned to SASS, or a nonspecific school counseling intervention. SASS participants showed significantly decreased social threat cognitions at 5-month follow-up. Treatment responders had significantly greater reductions in social threat cognitions compared to nonresponders at post-intervention and follow-up. These findings suggest that social threat cognitions may be important to assess and monitor when treating youth with SAD.

Treatment Integrity of Intervention Studies in Professional School Counseling From 1997 to 2018: A Systematic Review

Treatment integrity (TI) refers to the degree to which an intervention is implemented as intended. We analyzed 67 youth intervention studies published in Professional School Counseling from 1997 to 2018. More than half (55%) of the interventions were operationally defined and 16.4% of the studies monitored TI, but only 6% systematically evaluated TI. Results provide insight into school counseling interventions with implications for practicing school counselors.

The Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference: Contexts for Creating Change

This special edition of Professional School Counseling presents some of the key proceedings from the sixth annual Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference (EBSCC). The EBSCC exists to provide professional development around effective school counseling program components and interventions, especially related to evidence-based practices and other cutting-edge innovations in school counseling. We offer a brief history of the EBSCC, a definition of evidence-based school counseling, and an overview of the contents of this special issue. Future directions for evidence-based school counseling conclude the article.

Connect the Dots: Using a Logic Model to Connect Goals With Interventions, Evaluation Strategies, and Outcomes

The evidence-based school counseling model calls for school counselors to (a) make data-driven decisions to determine needs, (b) identify research-supported interventions to address the previously determined needs, and (c) evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented interventions. This article offers both a process model and logic model that school counselors can apply to visually represent data-driven school counseling interventions that are designed to meet the needs of students as reflected in school counseling program goals. Further, the logic model assists school counselors in creating a plan to evaluate immediate, proximal, and distal outcomes.

School Counseling Intervention Research: A 10-Year Content Analysis of ASCA- and ACA-Affiliated Journals

Authors performed a content analysis of school counseling–related intervention research in 21 journals affiliated with the American Counseling Association and the American School Counselor Association across the 10-year span of 2006–2016. Results indicated that minimal school counseling intervention research articles were published ( N = 53) in these 21 journals during that time period and that most studies were quasi-experimental, single-group, pre-/posttest design with a fairly small N, raising questions about validity and generalizability of findings. We discuss implications for practice and future research.

Self-Efficacy, Attachment Style and Service Delivery of Elementary School Counseling

Professional school counselors are important contributors to education and serve an essential role in the academic, personal, social and career development of all students (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2012). Over the past decade, school counselors have been increasingly called upon to embrace data-driven, evidence-based standards of practice (ASCA, 2012; Erford, 2016) that bolster the achievement of all students (Shillingford & Lambie, 2010). Comprehensive developmental school counseling programs that are consistent with the ASCA National Model are currently considered best practice (ASCA, 2012) and identified as an effective means of delivering services to all students (Burnham & Jackson, 2000; Carey & Dimmitt, 2012; Gysbers & Henderson, 2012).Data from school counseling research indicate that comprehensive developmental school counseling programs make a positive difference in student outcomes (Carey & Dimmitt, 2012; Scarborough & Luke, 2008). These programs are shown to impact overall student development positively, including academic, career and emotional development, as well as academic achievement (Fitch & Marshall, 2004; Lapan, Gysbers, & Petroski, 2001; Sink & Stroh, 2003). Furthermore, a range of individual school counselor activities and interventions is associated with positive changes in a number of important student outcomes, including academic performance, school attendance, classroom behavior and selfesteem (Whiston, Tai, Rahardja, & Eder, 2011).However, studies examining actual school counselor practice indicate that school counselors spend a significant amount of time on activities that are not reflective of ASCA best practices, including clerical, administrative and fair share duties that take them away from performing essential school counseling activities (Bardhoshi, Schweinle, & Duncan, 2014; Burnham & Jackson, 2000; Foster, Young, & Hermann, 2005; Scarborough & Luke, 2008). A factor impeding school counselors' ability to perform activities that align with best practices includes being burdened with time-consuming tasks that are outside their scope of practice (Bardhoshi et al., 2014). This may stem from either the historically ambiguous school counselor role (Gysbers & Henderson, 2012) or from competing demands from numerous stakeholders who may not fully understand the components of an effective school counseling program (Bemak & Chung, 2008). Indeed, school counselors report not spending adequate time engaged in the professional activities that they prefer (Scarborough, 2005; Scarborough & Luke, 2008), even though these preferences are consistent with best practice recommendations (Scarborough & Culbreth, 2008). Therefore, for many school counselors, performing within their professional role and sticking to best practice recommendations regarding their service delivery can be challenging and stressful (McCarthy, Kerne, Calfa, Lambert, & Guzman, 2010).Given that school counseling program implementation and interventions that align with ASCA are associated with positive outcomes for students in a variety of domains, and that tension exists between the actual and preferred practice of school counselors, the question now becomes: What factors contribute to effective school counseling service delivery? Studies indicate a positive relationship between years of experience and school counselor practice (Scarborough & Culbreth, 2008; Sink & Yillik-Downer, 2001), as it may take several years of experience to implement the breadth and complexity of interventions in a programmatic manner. Research outside the field of school counseling also has expanded beyond demographic variables to indicate that a number of individual characteristics, such as attachment style (Dozier, Lomax Tyrrell, & Lee, 2001; Hazan & Shaver, 1987), emotional stability, locus of control, self-esteem (Judge & Bono, 2001) and self-efficacy (Judge & Bono, 2001; Larson & Daniels, 1998), are related to an individual's work performance. …

ArtBreak Group Counseling for Children: Framework, Practice Points, and Results

Child social/emotional development and mitigation of child stress are receiving continued emphasis in the literature. While choice-based group art studios have a long association with mental health, documentation on their potential for supporting children is limited. This article describes an elementary school counseling intervention designed to mitigate child stress and support child social/emotional development through a choice-based studio art group known as ArtBreak. The article explains its fully developed framework, provides information that supports practitioner implementation, presents results of the program, and proposes directions for future research.