This study was designed to determine the diverse practices of group counseling instructors in the delivery of the required experiential group. A small group experience (experiential group) is required of all counseling students in accredited institutions. The accreditation body for counseling programs is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The experiential group has been considered to be a valuable and integral part of counselor training. However, the group has been controversial because of ethical issues involving dual relationships and the right to privacy. The purpose of this study was to determine how group counseling instructors deliver the experiential group, compare current practices to recommended practices in the literature, and recommend changes based on disparities that may exist. The difference between this study and previous surveys of group counseling instructors is that the sample in this study involves CACREP institutions exclusively and the focus is on CACREP standards rather than the standards of the Association for Specialists in Group Work. The results of the study showed that approximately one third of the instructors surveyed indicated that they also serve as leaders of the experiential group. Many of these instructors who serve as group leaders also …

The principal investigator (PI) for this study surveyed 207 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members on their attitudes toward utilizing trained counseling paraprofessionals in school counseling. The PI also examined the relationship between participants’ attitudes and their subjective reports of the counselor-student ratios in their schools, the amount of work time they spent providing direct counseling services to students, and the extent to which their districts experienced a school counselor shortage. The participants’ mean reported counselor-student ratio (1:464.63) significantly exceeded ASCA recommendations of 1:250. Elementary counselors reported the highest counselor-student ratios while high school counselors reported the lowest. Furthermore the PI found a significant linear trend for counselor-student ratios to decrease as school level increased. The participants’ reported mean percentage of time involved in direct counseling services (61.48%) fell significantly below the ASCA recommended 70%. Elementary counselors reported the highest amount of time involved in direct counseling services while high school counselors reported the lowest. The PI also found a significant linear trend for percentages of time involved in direct services to decrease as school level increased. Over one-fourth of the participants indicated school counselor shortages existed in their districts. A majority of participants supported utilizing counseling paraprofessionals in their …

This study was design to determine the efficacy of intensive individual play therapy as a method of intervention for children diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was designed to study the effectiveness of an intensive play therapy intervention in: a) reducing symptoms of childhood depression in children with IDDM; b) reducing symptoms of anxiety in children with IDDM; c) reducing the overall behavior difficulties in children with IDDM; d) increasing healthy adjustment in children with IDDM; e) increasing diabetic's children's adherence to their diabetic regime; and f) impacting these emotional and behavioral symptoms over time. The 15 children in the experimental group received 12, daily play therapy sessions while attending a summer camp for children with diabetes. The control group, consisting of 15 children who attended the diabetic summer camp, received no play therapy. Children and parents in both groups completed pretest, post-test and three-month follow-up data, consisting of: the Children's Depression Inventory, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Filial Problems Checklist and the Diabetes Adaptation Scale. Analysis of covariance revealed that the children in the experimental group significantly improved their adaptation to their diabetes following intensive play therapy as reflected by the Diabetes Adaptation …

This research study was performed in an attempt to fill an apparent void regarding the relative utility and comprehensiveness of three published, theoretically-based, idiographic, initial assessment inventories: Integral Intake (II), Life-Style Introductory Interview (LI), and Multimodal Life History Inventory (MI). “Experts” -- defined as professors of counseling or psychology and licensed practitioners who have been practicing as counselors or psychologists for at least five years - read through the inventories and then evaluated them by responding to both (qualitative) open-ended questions as well (quantitative) rankings and ratings. The researcher posed three primary research questions: 1) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the overall helpfulness of the three inventories; 2) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the comprehensiveness -- both relative to each of the eight dimensions of the client (thoughts, emotions, behaviors, physical aspects of the client, physical aspects of the client's environment, culture, spirituality, and what is most meaningful to the client) and overall -- of the three inventories; and 3) how do participants' evaluations differ regarding the efficiency with which the three inventories assessed the eight dimensions. Results indicated that participants consistently evaluated the II and MI as more helpful, comprehensive, and efficient than the LI - both …