This research study investigated the effectiveness of child-centered group play therapy with children experiencing adjustment difficulties. Specifically, this study determined the effectiveness of child-centered group play therapy in: (a) improving self-concept, (b) reducing externalizing, internalizing, and overall behavior problems, (c) enhancing emotional and behavioral adjustment to the school environment, and (d) increasing self-control of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties. Also investigated were child-centered group play therapy effects on reducing parenting stress of the parents of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties. The experimental group consisted of 15 kindergarten children who received one 40-minute child-centered group play therapy session per week, for twelve weeks. Group facilitators were play therapists who were doctoral students at the University of North Texas. The control group consisted of the 14 kindergarten students that had been assigned to the control group in Baggerly's (1999) study. Before the group play therapy sessions began and after termination of the sessions: the researchers administered the Joseph Pre-School and Primary Self-Concept Screening Test; parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist-Parent Report, Self-Control Rating Scale, Filial Problem Checklist, and Parenting Stress Index; and teachers completed the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report, Early Childhood Behavior Scale, and Self-Control Rating Scale. Although the general results of …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Intensive Filial Therapy in: (a) improving the self-concept of child witnesses of domestic violence; (b) reducing internalizing behavior problems, such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety and depression, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (c) reducing externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (d) reducing overall behavior problems of child witnesses of domestic violence; and (e) increasing communication of empathy between mothers and child witnesses of domestic violence. A second objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Intensive Filial Therapy with Intensive Individual Play Therapy and Intensive Sibling Group Play Therapy with child witnesses of domestic violence. The experimental group consisted of 11 child witnesses of domestic violence whose mothers received 12 Intensive Filial Therapy training sessions within a three week period and had 12 mother-child play sessions. The Intensive Individual Play Therapy comparison group, consisting of 11 child witnesses, and the non-treatment control group, consisting of 11 child witnesses, were utilized from the Kot (1995) study. The Intensive Sibling Group Play Therapy comparison group was utilized from the Tyndall-Lind (1999) study. Children in all studies completed the Joseph Preschool …

The problem with which this study is concerned is a comparison of the effects of three methods of focused feedback upon selected client behaviors in individual counseling. This study has a twofold purpose. The first is to examine which of three methods of focused feedback (videotape, audiotape, or verbal) is most effective in producing selected behavioral changes in clients seen in individual counseling. The second is to compare the effects of the three methods of focused feedback on individual clients with the effects of a traditional individual counseling approach that did not utilize focused feedback.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of intensive sibling group play therapy in: (a) improving the self-concept of child witnesses of domestic violence; (b) reducing internalizing behavior problems, such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety and depression, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (c) reducing externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency, of child witnesses of domestic violence; and (d) reducing overall behavior problems of child witnesses of domestic violence. A second objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of intensive sibling group play therapy and intensive individual play therapy on the above identified dimensions.

Meditation includes a variety of techniques that share a common conscious effort to focus attention in a non-analytic way. In terms of its goals, meditation is a state of completely focused attention devoid of external thoughts--a state of heightened choice-less awareness. This study was designed to: (1) Identify and critically review professional literature on the effectiveness of meditation; (2) Provide an overall measure of effectiveness through the statistical meta-analysis technique; (3) Provide a classification of findings through the voting method; and (4) summarize and integrate highlights and major findings for the purpose of generating implications for future research and practice in counseling and psychotherapy.

According to Alfred Adler, founder of Individual Psychology, a feeling of inferiority is in some degree common to all people. People who are unable to overcome these inferiority feelings by striving for cooperation may become discouraged. Although there are three scales to measure social interest, no scales measuring discouragement for adults was found. Additionally, Adler held basic assumptions regarding homosexuality, and the findings suggest that the assumptions should be reexamined. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, three University of North Texas candidates developed a discouragement scale for adults 18 years of age and older, known as the Discouragement Scale for Adults (DSA). Discouragement was examined relative to the five life tasks. Second, this candidate normed the instrument for the scores of gay male subjects and compared it to the scores of the other subject groups. Since the emphasis was on developing the instrument and norming it for various subject groups, no hypothesis was developed. Data was collected on three subject groups, known as the general norm subjects, the discouraged subjects, and the gay male subjects. Analyses were performed on the scores. Among the analyses, it was found that gay male subjects were slightly more discouraged than the general …

This study utilized a qualitative/phenomenological research methodology to study the development of child molestation. Five volunteer male juvenile perpetrators of child molestation and their consenting family members participated in three one-on-one in-depth interviews. The juveniles were referred by juvenile justice departments in Texas. The investigation was pursued along three paths: (1) what factors in the perpetrators' life experiences may have influenced the formation of molesting thought and behavior patterns? (2) how did the perpetrators construe social relationships? (3) in developing sexual preference, what process did the perpetrators utilize to achieve the degree of sexual arousal needed to motivate the act of molestation? During analysis, 16 categories and 9 subcategories were developed from the data; these were evaluated in order to address the lines of inquiry listed above. Factors contributing toward deviancy were identified: these included general environmental factors and relationship issues with both parents and peers. The data also elucidated the perpetrators' characteristic ways of viewing themselves and other people, as well as the strategies that they relied upon to cope with their lives. These same strategies were subsequently used in their molesting. The results revealed that the answers to the investigational questions posed above were synthesized by the individual …

This study was designed to examine the effects of Experiential Focusing-oriented dream interpretation. The process was twofold. The first part of this study involved a preliminary step of developing an instrument, the Dream Interpretation Effects Questionnaire (DIEQ). The DIEQ assessed specific effects of Experiential Focusing-oriented dream interpretation, e.g., a sense of easing, fresh air, or movement, increased positive energy or self-understanding, development of a new step, enhanced valuation of dreams, or enhanced understanding of the meaning of the dream. Fifty-two adult volunteers participated in the first part of this study. All participants completed Part One of the DIEQ after reporting a dream and freely associating its meaning to another participant. The results were computed to establish the reliability of the DIEQ. The researcher then used the DIEQ along with a structured interview in a pretest-posttest control group design to examine the effects of Experiential Focusing-oriented dream interpretation. Twenty adult volunteers experienced in Experiential Focusing participated in the second part of this study. They were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a waiting-list control group. The experimental participants completed the DIEQ before (pretest) and after (posttest) a 45-minute Experiential Focusing-oriented dream interpretation intervention. By contrast, the control participants completed the …

Psychological safety is a concept mentioned throughout the literature as a necessary component in the process of change in group counseling. Despite its frequent mention, no study has examined the characteristics of psychological safety. The purpose of this study was to lay the groundwork for a definition of the concept of psychological safety using self reports of group leaders and group members on a constructed Likert format psychological safety questionnaire of three attributional categories: self, other members, and leader. The study utilized group members (n = 44) and group leaders (n = 4) participating in laboratory groups as a part of a counseling related masters curriculum. The questionnaires were filled out on the first, eighth (middle), and fourteenth (last) sessions. Hierarchies for characteristics and attribution were constructed by using a summing procedure of the Likert responses. Results on the attribution of psychological safety by group members showed a consistent pattern over the three time measures. Group members reported leaders as the most attributed to facilitating psychological safety, other members as second, and self as least attributed to facilitate psychological safety. Group leaders showed no apparent agreement between groups, but each group leader attributed psychological safety consistently over time within one's …

This study was designed to measure ten demographic membership variables of the Texas Association for Counseling and Development (TACD) and the respective relationships of those variables to ethical knowledge. It was also an effort to conduct a global study of the most recent revision (1988) of the AACD Ethical Standards and to find the relative knowledge of these standards by a random sample of 357 counselors in one state counseling organization.

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between parental empathy (PE) and parental acceptance (PA) and the effect of filial therapy training (FTT) on this relationship. Filial therapy training is a parent education program in which the goal is the development of PE and PA. The Measurement of Empathy in Adult-Child Interaction (MEACI) and the Porter Parental Acceptance Scale (PPAS) are two widely used instruments in filial therapy studies to measure PE and PA, respectively. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between parental empathy and parental acceptance, and the effect of filial therapy training on this relationship. Specifically, this study was designed to investigate the correlations between the MEACI and the PPAS.

This study resulted in the development of the Discouragement Scale for Adults (DSA), an assessment instrument for the Adlerian construct of discouragement in adults more than 18 years of age. The DSA is a 60-item instrument that contains five sub-scales corresponding to five life tasks identified in Adlerian literature as work, love, society, self, and spirituality. Age, gender, and ethnicity norms were established for the DSA using a diverse sample (N=586). Additional normative data was developed with a presumed discouraged sample (N=47), and a special sample of traditional college students aged 18-27 years (N=531). Findings on the norm sample indicated that females are less discouraged than males on the Total DSA and on society and spirituality sub-scales. The 18-34 year old group was more discouraged than other age groups on the Total DSA and on work, society, and spirituality sub-scales. Presumed discouraged sample findings indicated that females were less discouraged than males on the society sub-scale. College student findings indicated that females were less discouraged than males on the Total DSA and sub-scales of love, society, spirituality, and work. A significant difference was found among ethnic groups in self sub-scales. Students with no absences per week were less discouraged than …

The problem of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of systematic desensitization on test anxiety, general anxiety, and attitude toward school among fifth-grade elementary-school children.

Play therapy in a school setting was studied to determine its therapeutic effectiveness on students' reading achievement, self-concept, and locus of control. The sample consisted of 24 students in two first grade classes who had been retained because of low achievement in reading. Instruments used in the study were the Gates MacGinite Reading Test, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire. Analysis of covariance, used to test the significance of the difference between the adjusted post-test means of the experimental and control groups, showed that participants in play therapy scored significantly higher in self-concept than did those who were not exposed to treatment. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in reading achievement or locus of control. Since research has shown that low achievers in reading tend to have low self-concepts, it seems reasonable to assume that improved self-concept would be related to improved reading scores. The nature of such a possible relationship needs further study. Recommendations were made for integrating affective components into academic remediation programs, and suggestions for further research were made.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned is that of treating agoraphobia with cognitive-behavioral group therapy and cognitive-behavioral group therapy combined with the drug alprazolam (Xanax). The purpose of the research was twofold. The first goal was to determine the relative effectiveness of the two treatment conditions on phobic behavior, anxiety, and depression. A second goal was to analyze the results and make recommendations concerning each of these modalities available to agoraphobics, their families, and to treatment specialists. The research design of this study was a randomized, pretest-posttest, experimental group design. The sample (N = 15) consisted of Group I (N = 7), who received behavioral-cognitive group therapy combined with the medication alprazolam, and Group II (N = 8), who received behavioral-cognitive group therapy only. The treatment included 15, 2-hour weekly group sessions, with the addition of a brief medication evaluation prior to each group meeting for Group I. During these sessions, the subjects received information about agoraphobia in the form of brief didactic segments, treatment materials, homework assignments, group interaction, and various forms of desensitization. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. Multidimensional behavioral-cognitive group therapy can significantly reduce phobic avoidance, anxiety, …

Depression is believed to be the most prevalent mental dysfunction among older adults, and depression and anger are frequently linked in theory and in therapy. This study was undertaken to determine whether participation in group counseling sessions would increase awareness and expression of anger and decrease depression levels in women aged 65 and older. Treatment group members were compared to a matching control group. Both groups completed the Anger Self Report Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. Comparison of the ASR subscale scores, Awareness of Anger, Expression of Anger, Guilt, Condemnation of Anger, and Mistrust, revealed no significant differences between the treatment and control groups. However, the treatment group scored significantly higher on the BDI than did the control group. Analysis of variance of the ASR and the BDI, and the variables upon which the treatment and control groups were matched revealed some significant differences, and comparison of the women in this study with the two groups upon whom the ASR was validated showed this study's older women scored significantly lower than the validation groups on the ASR. The author concluded that six sessions is not long enough to effect change in either anger awareness or expression in older women, …

The relationship "between touch "behavior, marital satisfaction, and touch expectation in stable marriages was explored. Subjects included couples, married a minimum of seven years, chosen at random from a community of middle-class families. Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Jourard's Body Accessibility Questionnaire, and a touch expectation question on the data sheet were utilized to measure each subject's level of marital satisfaction, touch behavior, and touch expectation. These instruments were hand delivered to each couple and returned by mail to the experimenter.

The problem with which this study is concerned is to examine whether relationships can be identified between a counselor's change in verbal and physiological responses when subjected to low-stress and high-stress producing counseling encounters. It was concluded that under high-stress as opposed to low-stress conditions 1) counselors' heart-rates increase and become more variable; 2) counselors' levels of verbal effectiveness are relatively uninfluenced; and 3) no consistent and predictable relationship can be identified between counselors' verbal and physiological functioning. Caution is strongly advised in generalizing to subjects separate from this study.

This research study was designed to investigate the relationships of stress, anxiety, self concept, social support and illness in children and to examine the potential of specific cognitive mediating variables, self concept and anxiety, and an external mediating variable, social support and an interaction between self concept and social support, to significantly increase the efficiency of stress as a predictor of children's illness. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine if stressful life events, anxiety, self concept, social support, sex and illness are related in children, (2) to determine if stressful life events are an adequate predictor of illness in children, (3) to determine if a combination of anxiety, self concept and social support will increase the predictive efficiency concerning illness in children, (4) to provide information that may help develop a theoretical base concerning stressful life events and illness in children, and (5) to provide information that may be beneficial with regard to future research involving stress, anxiety, self concept, social support, sex and illness in children.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of the use of parents as therapeutic agents. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to determine the effect of filial therapy on parental acceptance, self-esteem, parent-child relationship, and family environment. A second was to analyze the results and make recommendations concerning the effectiveness of filial therapy as a treatment modality for parents and their children. The experimental design of the study was a nonrandomized, pretest-posttest, control group design.The sample (N=47) consisted of the experimental group (parents N=15, children N=9) who received filial therapy and the control group (parents N=12, children N=ll) who did not. The treatment included ten, two hour weekly parent training sessions. During these sessions the parents were taught the principles of client-centered play therapy and were instructed to conduct weekly one-half hour play sessions at home with their own children. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' feeling of unconditional love for their children and 2) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' perception of expressed conflict in their family. In addition to the statistically significant results, there were some …

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of determining the relationship between the variables of acculturation, imagery, self-concept, anxiety, stress, and seriousness of disease in Mexican-Americans. The purposes of this study were 1) to determine the statistical predictive efficiency of stress and its relation to disease, 2) to determine if a combination of anxiety, acculturation, self-concept, imagery, along with stress, would increase the statistical predictive efficiency concerning seriousness of disease, and 3) to provide information that may help to develope a theoretical base concerning the above variables and disease in Mexican-Americans.

The problem of this study was to determine whether or not the variables locus of control, perceived anxiety, anxiety proneness, nursing experience and intensive care experience were better than chance predictors of job stress in intensive care nurses. The study was conducted using 200 volunteer nurses (RN's) who worked in the Intensive Care Units of two major hospitals in a large metropolitan area. All subjects were administered Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the Nursing Stress Scale as well as a demographic questionnaire. Multiple Regression Analysis was used to determine the predictive value of the characteristic variables to job stress and to determine the most efficient predictive model possible using these variables.

This study was conducted to investigate whether cognitive variables (as measured by six self-report inventories) covaried with changes in behavior following group assertiveness training as postulated by several assertiveness training theorists and practitioners. Statistical analysis of the data did not support any of the hypotheses. No significant differences were found between the groups on any of the self-report measures or the behavioral ratings, although experimental group subjects consistently scored higher (in the predicted direction) on all self-report measures or were rated higher than placebo group subjects. The hypotheses that experimental group subjects would exhibit significantly higher levels of self-reported assertiveness, self-acceptance, self-esteem, and self-confidence than placebo group subjects were rejected. The hypothesis that the experimental group would exhibit a significantly greater shift toward self-reported internal locus of control than the placebo group was rejected. The hypothesis that the experimental group would exhibit significantly larger decreases in levels of self-reported anxiety than the placebo group was also rejected. Furthermore, no support was found for the hypothesis that experimental group subjects would exhibit significantly higher levels of objectively-rated assertive behavior than placebo group subjects. An examination of the data revealed substantial improvements on each of the six self-report measures for subjects in …

This study utilized ethnographic methodology to describe the communicative interactional patterns in families with a member who has breast cancer. Three breast cancer patients whose families were between the adolescent and launching of children developmental lifestage (McGoldrick & Carter, 1982) were chosen for the study. Data were collected from a series of three interview sessions over a period of four weeks with a two week time lapse between each of the interview sessions. Interview sessions were conducted in the families' homes by the researcher. All interviews were video and audio tape recorded for the purpose of preserving data for transcribing and coding. Research questions examined individual perception of meaning in regard to the disease, the structure and organization of the family in relation to the illness, and the effects of family communicative interaction on the course and management of the disease. Findings indicated that family members' responses to the diagnosis of "breast cancer were influenced by multi-generational "beliefs. All three families formulated a collective belief which supported the mother's belief about the disease. Each of the three families were mother-centered, and each mother seemed to use a metacommunicative approach to mediating family transactions. Each of the three fathers were reported …