The purpose of this study was to develop an effective formal instrument to assess the Adlerian personality priorities. The development of the Allen Assessment for Adlerian Personality Priorities, AAAPP, seeks to provide a strong comparability to assessing the Adlerian construct of personality priorities as the counselor interview. One hundred and seven participants were given the 1st administration of the AAAPP, Social Interest Scale and a demographic survey. Sixty-four participants completed a 2nd administration of the AAAPP two weeks later. Twenty participants experienced a counseling interview following the 2nd administration. The methods used to evaluate the validity and effectiveness of the AAAPP included: face validity, predictive validity, construct validity, test-retest reliability, multiple regression, Guttman split-half reliability and the Spearman Brown reliability.

This study was concerned with reducing children's anticipatory anxiety when entering mental health services for the first time. The purpose of this study was to determine whether combining two effective modalities, play therapy and animal-assisted therapy, would be effective in decreasing children's biobehavioral measurements of anxiety. Specifically, this study examined the effects of the presence of a trained therapy dog during one individual 30-minute play therapy session. The experimental group consisted of 26 children who received one individual 30-minute play therapy session with the presence of a trained therapy dog. The comparison group consisted of 25 children who received one individual 30-minute play therapy session without the presence of a trained therapy dog. The SenseWear® PRO 2 armband monitor measured children's biobehavioral measurements such as galvanic skin response, temperature, and activity level (BodyMedia, Inc., Pittsburgh , PA , www.bodymedia.com). The Tanita 6102 Cardio® digital heart rate monitor measured children's pre-treatment and post-treatment heart rates (Tanita Corporation of America, Inc., Arlington Heights , IL , www.tanita.com). Five hypotheses were tested using repeated measures ANOVA with mixed factors and eta squared. All five hypotheses in this study were retained based on statistical significance at the .05 level. The combination of child-centered play …

Using a correlational design, this study examined relationships among and between differentiation, profile elevation, gender and educational level (predictors) and depression, confidence, and vocational identity (criterion). Clients presenting for counseling services (n = 90) with a career concern at a large, metropolitan university were included in the study. Six assumptions were examined using three single hierarchical regression analyses to reveal relationships among and between variables. Two research assumptions were confirmed at the .05 level of significance. Bivariate correlations were computed to examine the structure coefficients. Beta weights and structure coefficients were examined to determine the relative contribution of the predictors in the regression model. Results indicated that differentiation, profile elevation, gender and educational level did not predict significant variance in depression and vocational identity. However, differentiation, profile elevation, and educational level did significantly predict confidence (p< .0001).

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents trained in the Landreth Filial Therapy Model could demonstrate child-centered play therapy skills as effectively as graduate play therapy students who completed an Introduction to Play Therapy course. The participants in both the parent group and the graduate student group were videotaped in play sessions with children pre- and post-training in order to measure change in adult empathic behavior as defined on the Measurement of Empathy in Adult-Child Interaction (MEACI). The specific skills measured in this study were (a) communicating acceptance to the child, (b) allowing the child to direct his or her own play during the play sessions, (c) demonstrating appropriate levels of involvement in the child's play, and (d) demonstrating empathic behavior toward the child. The Landreth Filial Therapy Model is a training system that utilizes both didactic and dynamic means to train parents and other paraprofessionals to be therapeutic agents of change with children. Parents are taught child-centered play therapy skills to use in weekly home play sessions with their children in order to strengthen the emotional bond between parent and child. The Introduction to Play Therapy course is a graduate-level counseling course at the University of …

The purpose of this study was to determine the core skills/methods and practicum experiences play therapy experts and professors believe to be essential in the education of the beginning play therapist in the specific areas of theory and history, terms, organizations, authors who have contributed to the field, methods, skills, training in special populations, practicum experience, and advanced skills. Two questionnaires were used to obtain opinions from play therapy experts and play therapy instructors. The first questionnaire was sent to twelve play therapy experts to obtain their opinions on the core curriculum and experiences necessary for training a play therapist in an introductory play therapy class, practicum experience, and advanced play therapy training. Frequencies and means were obtained and used to delete and add items for Questionnaire II. Questionnaire II was sent to 180 play therapy professors. Fifty play therapy professors returned the instrument. The ratings on Questionnaire II given by the professors were used to provide curriculum guidelines for developing a play therapy program. This program includes an introduction to play therapy course, play therapy practicum experiences, and advanced skills and advanced practicum experiences.

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of three interventions with international college students referred for adjustment and language difficulties. Fifty-four international students were assigned to treatment groups including expressive group counseling (n = 14), group speech therapy (n = 14), interdisciplinary counseling/speech intervention (n = 13), and the no treatment control (n = 13). Three null hypotheses were analyzed using a two factor repeated measures analysis of variance to determine whether the four treatment groups behaved differently across time according to pre- and posttest results of the ASR Total and Internalizing Problems scales and the CCSR total scores. Two null hypotheses were rejected at the alpha .05 level of statistical significance with large treatment effects. Post hoc analyses were conducted when a statistically significant interaction effect was found. The no treatment control group was established as a baseline to examine how each intervention group performed over time when compared to the no treatment control group. Results of the post hoc analysis for Total Problems indicated that international students in all three treatment groups demonstrated statistically significant improvements in total behavior problems at the alpha .025 level (Expressive counseling: p = .002, Speech: p = .01, and Interdisciplinary: p = .003) …

The purpose of this study was to conduct a survey to identify the beliefs and practices of conservative Protestant parents, which assisted in clarifying the assertions in the current literature regarding conservative Protestant parenting. Additionally, this researcher sought to determine the applicability of child parent relationship therapy (CPRT), a filial therapy model based upon the principles of child centered play therapy, for conservative Protestant parents by ascertaining the need for cultural modifications. Beliefs and practices of conservative Protestants were measured using the Protestant Parenting Inventory (PPI), an original instrument developed through a series of focus groups and pilot testings. The population comprised 148 mothers and fathers from 4 Southern Baptist churches in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to the data in order to increase internal consistency estimates and percent of explained variance. Criterion coding of demographic data allowed a multiple regression analysis to determine which demographic variables were significant predictors of participant responses on the PPI. Descriptive statistics allowed the researcher to investigate the compatibility of conservative Protestants and CPRT. Results of this study both confirm and refute past findings regarding conservative Protestants. Results also revealed the need for some cultural modifications to CPRT …

The relationships between sociometric status and selected performance variables for counselors in training were investigated. Gender differences in sociometric status were also investigated. Research participants were master's level counseling students. The point-biserial correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between sociometric status and grades. The SPSS 13.0 crosstabulation procedure was used to examine gender differences in sociometric status. The results indicated a moderate relationship between sociometric status and grades earned in a group counseling course. A small to negligible relationship between sociometric status and pre-practicum and practicum grades was found. No gender difference in sociometric status was found. The study provides some support for the use of sociometric measurements in predicting group counseling performance, but more research is needed.

The purpose of this research was to determine if a relationship exists between quality of the therapeutic working alliance and counselors' and clients' Adlerian personality priorities. Variables included counselors' and clients' Adlerian personality priorities and ratings of working alliance. Information for counselors' and clients' Adlerian personality priorities was obtained on the Allen Assessment for Adlerian Personality Priorities (AAAPP; Allen, 2005). Working alliance was measured with the Working Alliance Inventory- short revised (WAI-SR; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006). Participants included 14 counselors and 31 clients from a community counseling clinic on a university campus in the southwest United States. Results suggested that match between counselors' and clients' Adlerian personality priorities is related to counselors' perceptions of quality of the therapeutic working alliance. Statistically significant values were found on one hypothesis, as well as large effect sizes.

The purpose of this research was to examine what relationships existed between selected sociometric variables and measures of academic performance for students in a counselor training program. The sociometric variables included counseling ability, counseling knowledge, and friendship. Academic performance measures included subject GPAs, group counseling participation and final grades, prepracticum grades, and practicum grades. Data was collected from sociometric questionnaires and academic records from the years 1991 to 2004, for 840 subjects who participated in a group counseling class at the University of North Texas. Counseling knowledge had the highest correlations with all academic measures except group counseling final grades, in which counseling ability had the highest strength. The strongest correlations for all three sociometric variables occurred with group counseling final grades; correlations were r = 0.42 for counseling ability, r = 0.40 for counseling knowledge, and r = 0.30 for friendship. The sociometric variable of friendship had the lowest correlations in all academic measures, but was more significant than expected. The friendship sociometric variable may account for likeability as a factor in making sociometric choices. Combined sociometric scores led to increased correlation strength and explained variances that reached the large level of 30% with group counseling final grades. A …

A major concern many counselor trainees face when preparing to see their first couple-client is that of confidence because they have had little to no experience in interacting in a professional capacity with couples. Many beginning counselors experience anxiety, which can inhibit their effectiveness with clients (Scanlon & Baille, 1994). Introducing counselor trainees to a relatively non-threatening interaction with couples might reduce the initial anxiety that characterizes the neophyte counselor venturing into new clinical territory. The interaction may also enhance feelings of warmth and closeness of the couples. John Gottman's Oral History Interview (Gottman, 1999) was the protocol used in the interaction between trainee and couple. An instrument developed for this study to measure couple counseling confidence, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1983), and the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (Schaefer & Olson, 1981) were used to assess levels of counselor confidence, counselor anxiety, and couple intimacy, respectively. The confidence instrument and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to 37 students who were enrolled in four graduate level introductory couple counseling classes and who interviewed couples, as well as to 34 counselor-trainees who were enrolled in five graduate level counseling courses other than couple counseling and who did not …