Research & Scholarship in Counselor Education

Purpose of research & scholarship in counselor education

The Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC) has proposed six fundamental purposes of research and scholarship for counselor education and development:

1. Professional Development: to promote professional development which enhances competence in assessment, research, and evaluation.

2. Professionalization: to advance the professionalization of counseling through the appropriate use of assessment, research, and evaluation.

3. Research and Knowledge: to develop and disseminate knowledge regarding assessment, research, and evaluation procedures used in counseling.

4. Human Development: to advocate for optimal human development through culturally competent assessment, research, and evaluation practices.

5. Public Awareness: to support public policies and legislation that advance the ethical use of assessment, research, and evaluation.

6. Collaboration: to enhance communication and collaboration among AARC, leadership within ACA and its divisions, and other professional organizations that address common, assessment, research, and evaluation concerns.

Throughout my academic career in counselor education, I have worked to promote these six fundamental purposes of research and scholarship in our field, condensing them into three postural foundations for counselor preparation and supervision:

Learn and Know Who You Are

Name and Own Your Focus

Make and Nurture Congruent Relationships

These postural foundations necessitate a reflexive and intentional commitment in each member of our field that begins with self discovery. Cultivation of such a posture begins in the identity transmission between counselor educators and their students which must explicitly address and incorporate individual identity development, professional affiliation and identity development, and relationship development (Brady, 2020; Horst, 2018; Hurt-Avila & Castillo, 2017; Kaplan & Gladding, 2011; Owens & Neale-McFall, 2014; Prosek & Hurt, 2014; Teem, 2022).

Included in this reproduction of various artifacts created and gathered from my doctoral program, as well as reflections on my process of conducting research, my personal theory and approach to research and scholarship is presented.

III. Research and Scholarship

a. Research designs appropriate to quantitative and qualitative research questions
b. Univariate and multivariate research designs and data analysis methods
c. Qualitative designs and approaches to qualitative data analysis
d. Emergent research practices and processes
e. Models and methods of instrument design
f. Models and methods of program evaluation
g. Research questions appropriate for professional research and publication
h. Professional writing for journal and newsletter publication i. Professional conference proposal preparation
j. Design and evaluation of research proposals for a human subjects/institutional review board
review
k. Grant proposals and other sources of funding
l. Ethical and culturally relevant strategies for conducting research

artifacts III.a,c,d,f,g,j,l - Pressured to conform: the qualitative paradigm in counselor education and supervision

Using Charmaz’s (2014) grounded theory (GT) and Clarke’s (2003; 2005; Clarke et al., 2018) situational analysis (SA), this study explores the experience of counselor educators and their pressure to conform throughout their professional identity development process. As counselor educators, these individuals are thought and practice leaders in the field of professional counseling, training up future counselors and advancing the field in scholarship and advocacy as a social science (Aubrey, 1977; 1983; Hansen et al., 2014). As a social science, the integrity and investigative power of counseling are tethered to empirical discovery through quantitative and qualitative methods and philosophy – while inherently complementary, these two modes of inquiry, and their respective philosophies, have been set at odds in the course of development within the social sciences. This tension has been referred to as the “paradigmatic pendulum” (Hansen, 2009), wherein the social sciences swing back and forth throughout the eras from “medicalized, material models of care to psychological, immaterial approach to human change” (Hansen et al., 2014, p. 117). Representing the core of our profession, the swinging of this pendulum often goes undiscussed by counselor educators, and thus without understanding of its implications on professional identity in counselor education. Interpreted through conflict theory and post-structuralism, the participants were guided through three iterative interviews to uncover the meaning they find in the qualitative world of discovery, and their place in it, as they embody their own understanding of professional identity in counselor education.

Through this dissertation process, I created two models for counselor preparation and development that could be helpful in the embrace and implementation of AARC’s fundamental purposes for research and scholarship in counselor education and supervision.

artifacts III.a,b,d,e,g,h,j - attachment, Shame and mental wellness in the covid-19 pandemic: from conceptual to exploratory

Stress has been shown to affect the relationship between attachment security, shame and guilt, loneliness, and mental health (Chen, 2015). With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the human experience of stress has been put under ubiquitous pressure, thus further augmenting the relationship between these variables. The present work puts forth an original inquiry into the nature of this reciprocal intersection using data gathered through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Initial exploratory analyses are presented to justify a regression-based inquiry using Hayes’ parallel mediation in PROCESS (Hayes, 2018). Results of said analyses are provided in narrative and table.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a havoc in individuals' lives globally (Feinberg et al., 2021; Stebnicki, 2020; Rajkumar, 2020; Xu et al., 2021). Hence, understanding its impact and ramifications, along protective/risk factors and variables that could augment or diminish mental health outcomes is imperative for researchers and clinicians alike. In accordance with Vowels et al. (2022) and Moccia et al. (2020), we demonstrated in Study 1 that individuals high in attachment anxiety are more vulnerable to adverse mental health outcomes than those presenting with attachment avoidance. As we hypothesized, individuals high in attachment avoidance reported less depression severity when shame proneness was low, both before and during the pandemic, compared with individuals high in attachment anxiety who reported severe depression. Vowels and colleagues (2022) considered anxious attached vulnerability to plausibly occur due to individuals hyperactivation and feared preoccupation of being abandoned, which would then prevent the felt sense of safety and ultimately self-care. We deemed including shame proneness as a variable into this equation an worthy endeavor since shame may trigger considerable fears of abandonment anxiety (Brown, 2006). Therefore, expanding the literature, we incorporated the effect of shame proneness on mental health, as it was moderated by attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety alike. As seen in Study 1, the pandemic did not moderate this relationship. This outcome adds weight to Kural and Kovac's (2021) result affirming attachment avoidance's problem focused coping strength during stressful and threatening situations. To further investigate the role of shame proneness as a moderator between specifically attachment avoidance and mental health during a pandemic we conducted the second study.

In Study 2, we investigated avoidantly attached participants who answered the assessment measures in both Summer 2019 and Fall 2020. While shame was found to not be a moderator between attachment avoidance and depression during the pandemic, as expected, individuals who scored high in shame proneness and low in attachment avoidance scored severely depressed. Given these results, it is pertinent to underscore that feelings of shame contribute to one's view of self as defective and unworthy of other's acceptance and love (Brown, 2006; Tangney & Dearing, 2002). Additionally, it is suggested that feelings low self-worth is associated with depression, shame, and guilt (Harter & Jackson, 1993). Similarly, Freud famously proposed that depression is an unconscious dislike and anger towards the self (Abi- Habib & Luyten, 2013), which substantiates the role of shame within the implicit view of self in depressive presentations in insecurely attached individuals. Furthermore, as described in Study's 2 discussion, depression scores during the pandemic displayed a curvilinear relationship in individuals with low shame proneness. Those low in attachment avoidance scored mildly depressed (12.33), whereas those moderately avoidant scored severely depressed (25.5), and those highly and very highly avoidant scored within depression's normal range, 6.67 and 3 respectively. It is then plausible to speculate that highly and very highly avoidant individuals did not become depressed during the pandemic due to their functioning being not only praised but expected and considered virtuous, which could have affected their view of self favorably. Further investigation of these findings is warranted.

artifacts III.d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l - determining cross-cultural mentorship readiness in counselor education and supervision programs

Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) faculty are challenged to include cross-cultural mentorship within CES programs. Successfully implementing cross-cultural mentoring in CES programs requires assessing institutional and CES program readiness and identifying successful strategies. This article outlines a proposed framework to evaluate requisites for cross-cultural mentorship across levels of institutions of higher education and provides strategies to help CES faculty successfully engage and sustain cross-cultural mentorship. Society and educational programs continue to grow in cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity. As a result, counselor education programs and the systems within which they function will need to adapt to meet the needs of a diverse population of professional counselors, students, and counselor educators. This article enriches the ongoing dialogue on competent cross-cultural mentorship within counselor education programs across various system levels.

Two members of this research team presented at the Southern Association of Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES) 2022 conference in Baltimore Maryland after the articles was published in the journal of Teaching and Supervision in Counseling (Vernam et al., 2022). The presentation was entitled Answering the Call: Program Readiness for Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Counselor Education and Supervision Programs.

artifacts III.a,C,d,f,g,h,l - Family and systems theory in counselor education: A prisma systematic review

An exploration of peer-reviewed articles published in the last decade in 11 journals from the American Counseling Association (ACA) was conducted to identify the state of research on teaching family and systems theory in the field of counselor education. This study presents a review of the relevant literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. While much has been published over the past decade specific to family and systems theory, few recommendations exist for counselor educators attempting to select the most recent and relevant publications to include in their counselor education curricula. A summary of the review and recommendations for counselor educators who are designing and teaching counselor education curricula on family and systems theory are provided.

This manuscript was accepted for publication by The Family Journal in 2023 and included a novel approach for conducting systematic reviews for counselor education wherein the journals associated with the ACA were searched using the individual publisher’s database as opposed to relying on a cumulative database like EBSCO-host. Conducting an exhaustive systematic review of the ACA journals requires independent access to the publishing houses that host each of the journals. Additionally, to ensure a comprehensive review of the 21 ACA journals, a single database is insufficient for such a review. While the ACA partners with Wiley-Blackwell to publish, maintain, and grant access to 10 of their journals, the remaining 11 journals must be accessed through their specific publisher; relying on cumulative databases to have current and exhaustive access to the journals through their publishers is not sufficient for a thorough systematic review.

Reflections

Developing a counselor educator identity is a multifaceted journey that intertwines various elements of personal and professional growth, particularly through the lens of research and scholarship. Throughout my doctoral program, I have not only crafted my researcher identity but also aligned it closely with my evolving counselor educator identity. This alignment is reflective of a life-long developmental process enriched by the guidance of my supervisors and the hands-on experience gained through conducting research and presenting at professional conferences.

Research and scholarship are not just activities but central components of my identity as a counselor educator. These activities challenge me to leverage and expand my strengths while also addressing areas needing growth. My experience as a researcher has been dual-faceted—I have thrived as an individual investigator where I could let my creativity and intellectual curiosity steer my efforts, leading to significant productivity. Simultaneously, my involvement in collaborative research teams has tempered my approach, teaching me the value of pacing and harmonizing my enthusiasm with the collective goals and diverse developmental stages of team members. This team dynamic, while sometimes challenging, has been crucial in fostering a deeper understanding of collaborative processes and mutual respect among peers.

The integration of holistic wellness into research and scholarship is another critical aspect of my identity as a counselor educator. This approach is not just about the health of the individual but encompasses a comprehensive view that includes mind, body, cognition, emotion, and spirit. Such a philosophy supports the integration of both faith-based and secular theories, enhancing the richness of the research and its applicability to diverse populations. This holistic perspective is especially pertinent in counselor education, where the wellbeing of the individual—be it researcher, subject, or student—is paramount.

Moreover, embracing holistic wellness in research extends to how we as educators prepare our students. By modeling these values, we teach future counselors to consider their clients' entire being, fostering a more empathetic and effective therapeutic relationship. This modeling is crucial in counselor training, where students look to their educators for guidance on embodying the professional ideals they are learning about.

As I continue to develop my counselor educator identity, I see these elements not just as separate parts but as interconnected strands that weave together a robust and dynamic professional identity. This identity is continually shaped by ongoing learning, reflective practice, and an unwavering commitment to the values of the counseling profession.

References

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