School counselors are increasingly important in the school setting due to the significant role they play in students’ academic, social/emotional, and career development. While the school counseling ...profession is continuously growing, it is important to understand how they are viewed by other professionals with whom they work, including teachers. Having a mutual understanding of school counselors’ roles can lead to increased collaboration between themselves and teachers, which ultimately benefits students. The proposed study aimed to examine school counselors’ and teachers’ perceptions of actual and preferred school counselor roles to assess for similarities and differences, as well as perceptions of levels of importance. Participants were surveyed using the School Counselor Activity Rating Scale-Revised (SCARS-R; Scarborough, 2005), which includes five subscales “Counseling Activities”, “Consultation Activities”, “Curriculum Activities”, “Coordination Activities”, and “Other Activities”. In addition, five items were added to the scale to assess for further information on counselors’ roles in working with students’ mental health concerns, attendance concerns, and bullying prevention concerns. Results of the study indicated no significant differences between how school counselors and teachers viewed actual counseling and “other” activities, as well as preferred curriculum and coordination activities. However, the study also demonstrated that school counselors perceived themselves to be engaged in more consultation, curriculum, and coordination activities than teachers perceived. Furthermore, it also revealed teachers would prefer school counselors to be engaged in more counseling, consultation, and “other” activities than school counselors reported they would prefer. While the study found many similarities between perceptions, the differences in perceptions reveal the need for a clearer understanding of the functions and role of the school counselor.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived social support and collective self-esteem among women. To carry out this study, a national sample of 329 women completed ...the Multidimensional Social Support Scale (containing three subscales), the Collective Self-esteem Scale (containing four subscales), and a demographic questionnaire. Social Identity Theory (SIT) served as a theoretical frame for the study. Results of the three hierarchical multiple regressions and one simultaneous multiple regression demonstrated statistically significant relationships between social support and collective self-esteem. First, a statistically significant positive relationship between the friends subscale of social support and the private collective self-esteem subscale was found when controlling for education. Second, a statistically significant positive relationship between the friends subscale and the public collective self-esteem subscale existed when controlling for education, income, and ethnicity. Third, both the friends and family subscales of social support had a statistically significant positive relationships with the membership collective self-esteem subscale when controlling for education, income, and religion. Fourth, a statistically significant positive relationship between the friends subscale and the importance to identity subscale of collective self-esteem was found. Lastly, the significant other subscale of social support demonstrated a statistically significant negative relationship with the importance to identity subscale of collective self-esteem. This study’s findings have important implications for counseling practice, counselor educators, and directions for future research.
As the older adult community increases, there will be a higher demand for counselor professionals who are prepared to serve the needs of the population. Within that cohort, the population of older ...adult Black women is rapidly increasing. In efforts to serve the unique cultural needs of the population, it will be imperative that counselor professionals are able to provide treatment and support that acknowledges the dense cultural history that shapes their identity. By exploring the cultural framework through the lens of Black feminist theory, counselor educators and professionals can glean greater awareness of how to accommodate older adult Black women in ways that promote mental health, wellness, and healthy aging within the population. This interpretative phenomenological analysis study will explore ways older adult Black women who identify with the Strong Black Woman schema make sense of the aging process while promoting their mental health and wellbeing.
There is a dearth of research exploring the potential impacts of collaborative partnerships between vocational rehabilitation (VR) and school counselors for transition age students with disabilities. ...The purpose of the current study was to explore school counselor's beliefs and behaviors related to VR collaboration. Study participants were identified through national and state level professional school counselor associations and included 178 secondary school counselors. Participants completed the VR beliefs scale which was developed to attain information regarding secondary school counselor's knowledge and practice patterns to VR counseling. Results indicated that while the majority of participants reported some familiarity with VR services, school counselors were not significantly involved with connecting students with disabilities to VR services. Three recommendations for future practice were provided (i.e., rehabilitation counselor initiated collaboration efforts and information dissemination, professional accountability and, interdisciplinary counseling training programs).
The problem that was addressed through this study is the declining student degree completion rate for a public state baccalaureate institution in a northwestern state over the six-year period of 2014 ...to 2020. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if completion of an undergraduate degree within six years could be predicted by the number of advising sessions a student had during degree completion. A student retention model created by Amara Atif, Deborah Richards, & Ayse Bilgin and NACADA’s academic advising core competencies model served as the framework, where student-institutional interactions through best practices in academic counseling can promote degree completion. Deidentified archival data for 937 full-time, first-time college students with no prior college credits at Northwest University (NU, a pseudonym) were retrieved. A logistic regression model (χ2 (1) = 11.459, p < 0.001) showed that for an increase of one academic appointment at NU’s academic advising center, the odds that a student would complete within six years increased by 22.8% (OR = 1.228, 95% CI 1.089, 1.385. The study resulted in a white paper proposing recommendations for improvements in academic center advising at NU by requiring students to have academic advising sessions each term, gathering data to explore why students may not be visiting the academic advising center, and to gather additional data to explore the effectiveness of the center. The findings from this study can promote change to policy and academic advising practice to increase college completion rates. Positive social change is achieved when students at NU benefit from timely baccalaureate degree completion within six years, allowing them to transform their communities and local industry through future employment.
This study was an attempt to fit into the field of education to help leaders and parents further develop an in-depth understanding of the differing ability levels of individuals who have experienced ...trauma. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the nature of and the influence of trauma on emotional intelligence in children as perceived by educators who identify as having worked with students who have experienced trauma. The participants were 5-10 educators of children who self-identify as having experience in working with students who have experienced trauma. Educators will be invited to participate through word of mouth, social media and snowball sampling. Individual interviews were conducted using an interview protocol matrix. All participants addressed the lack of adequate resources in their positions. Most participants were adamant about reiterating that school counselors are not long-term solutions rather temporary fixes. All participants held a general idea of what emotional intelligence is and how trauma can impact one’s emotional intelligence and development. All participants held a consensus that lack of knowledge was a key factor in utilization and/or proper utilization of resources. All participants understood that an individual’s/students can possess differing levels of emotional intelligence.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of school psychologists who had experience working with linguistically diverse speaking families in special education. The focus was on ...their experiences communicating and collaborating with these families as well as their training backgrounds. The study aimed to explore the training, practice, and suggestions from school psychologists in order to identify strategies for improving outcomes for linguistically diverse and non-English speaking families. Previous research had extensively covered parental perspectives on how child study team and special educators communicated information. However, there was a notable gap in research on school psychologist perspectives, which only delved into their training experiences. By examining school psychologists' perspectives, this study fills a significant gap in the literature, contributing to a better understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities when working with diverse families in special education. The findings offer insights to guide the development of training programs and interventions, shedding light on the challenges psychologists face in communicating with linguistically diverse and multicultural families. Ultimately, the goal is to promote more effective communication and collaboration between families and schools.These themes represent multifaceted hurdles in fostering effective communication and collaboration, emphasizing the ongoing need for cultural proficiency development and tailored training programs. The findings underscore the pivotal role of cultural competence in enhancing collaboration, concluding with proposed strategies for training school psychologists to facilitate future effective practices.
High-quality career counseling is freely available at U.S. high schools. However, many students choose not to participate in career planning programs, despite being assigned to a school counselor for ...guidance. There is a projected increase in demand for school counselors; however, there needs to be more literature regarding whether high school students are taking advantage of career planning and how counselors cope with and manage their role in implementing career counseling programs. The purpose of this study was to explore school counselors’ perceptions and descriptions of their career counseling efforts for non-honor roll students in career management. The theoretical framework consisted of social cognitive theory; social cognitive career theory; and a component of the latter theory, career self-management. The study featured a generic qualitative research design. Data were collected using an open-ended qualitative questionnaire that was administered to 20 school counselors in the state of Louisiana with at least 3 years of counseling experience. The data were analyzed through manual coding. The codes, categories, and themes that were identified support further investigation of how career counselors perceive their career management efforts for non-honor roll students. The study may promote positive social change by providing insight on how school counselors perceive and implement career management programs for high school students. With this knowledge, school counselor leaders and practitioners may be able to develop strategies to better assist students (non-honor roll and honor roll) in developing self-motivation.
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