Expert Clinical Supervisors’ Descriptions of Easy and Challenging Supervisees

Expert supervisors provided descriptions of what made two of their recent supervisees easy or challenging. Content analysis revealed seven categories of experts’ descriptions for those supervisees. Supervision behaviors, clinical competencies, traits and personal background, and self-awareness/self-reflectivity categories were the most frequently reported categories, regardless of the supervisee being easy or challenging. Comparisons of the seven categories did not yield significant differences in their frequencies for the easy and challenging supervisees. Importantly, the experts appeared to rely on objective (observable) rather than subjective assessments of their supervisees, whether easy or challenging. Limitations and implications for future research and practice are discussed

Expert Clinical Supervisors’ Descriptions of Easy and Challenging Supervisees

Expert supervisors provided descriptions of what made two of their recent supervisees easy or challenging. Content analysis revealed seven categories of experts’ descriptions for those supervisees. Supervision behaviors, clinical competencies, traits and personal background, and self-awareness/self-reflectivity categories were the most frequently reported categories, regardless of the supervisee being easy or challenging. Comparisons of the seven categories did not yield significant differences in their frequencies for the easy and challenging supervisees. Importantly, the experts appeared to rely on objective (observable) rather than subjective assessments of their supervisees, whether easy or challenging. Limitations and implications for future research and practice are discussed

Use of Focus Groups in Survey Item Development

Focus groups are rapidly gaining popularity as a field research tool. This technique can be particularly effective in survey item development, as illustrated here via development of the Volunteer Work Behaviors Questionnaire. The steps involved in this process, ranging from item generation to finalizing logistics, are outlined. Implications for further research are proposed

Expert Supervisors\u27 Priorities When Working With Easy and Challenging Supervisees

Using Kemer, Borders, and Willse\u27s ( 2014) concept map as a conceptual model, the authors aimed to understand expert supervisors\u27 priorities with their easy and challenging supervisees. Experts\u27 priorities with easy and challenging supervisees were represented in different parts of the concept map, and they seemed to individualize their work with challenging supervisees

“Because Here, White is Right”: Mental Health Experiences of International Graduate Students of Color from a Critical Race Perspective.

To examine the mental health experiences of international graduate students of Color (IGSC) as they navigate through a multitude of systemic barriers, the researchers interviewed eight IGSC in the U.S. Adopting a critical race perspective, the researchers sought to address a persistent gap in the counseling literature, and explore how systemic influences of racism, xenophobia, and discriminatory policies impacted the mental health of IGSC. Three distinct themes emerged from phenomenological analysis of the participants’ interviews in the current study: cross-cultural challenges, surviving racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, and mental health and wellness. Implications for how professional counselors can support IGSC as they navigate through multiple challenges are emphasized

“I Am Strong. Mentally Strong!”: Psychosocial Strengths of International Graduate Students of Color.

Positioned at a unique intersection of managing academic pressures and embodying racial and ethnic minority identity status, international graduate students of color (IGSCs) are frequent targets of multiple stressors. Unfortunately, extant counseling literature offers counselors little information on the psychosocial strengths IGSCs employ (e.g., strong familial bond, friendships) to cope with such stressors. To address this gap, interviews with eight IGSC participants were conducted and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis and the lens of the intersectionality framework. Five psychosocial strengths were identified—familial support, social connections, academic aspirations and persistence, personal growth and resourcefulness, and resistance and critical consciousness. Recommendations for employing an asset-based approach in counseling and counselor education are offered

Dissertations in CACREP-Accredited Counseling Doctoral Programs: An Initial Investigation

Faculty in 38 CACREP-accredited doctoral programs in the US described their dissertation products over the last three years, composition of their dissertation committees, and their satisfaction ratings with dissertation products and processes. Results indicated traditional dissertation formats were predominant. Over half (54%) of completed dissertations were quantitative and 40% were qualitative. Committees typically included two or three counselor educators and at least one outside faculty member. Faculty were modestly satisfied with dissertations, citing the need for more rigor and consistency of standards. Higher satisfaction was related to committee composition as well as the use of a variety of research methods

Adult adoptees and their friends: Current functioning and psychosocial wellbeing.

Adoptees (n = 100) and a matched group of their friends completed measures of psychosocial well-being thought particularly salient for adult adoptees. Results indicated more similarities (life satisfaction, life regrets, purpose in life, intimacy, substance abuse) than differences (connectedness, depression, self-esteem) between the two groups. Adoptees expressed stronger regrets about 75 general than adopted-related issues. Follow-up analyses suggested greater variability within the adoptee than the friend group on several variables; search status helped explain this greater variability

Applying Information Processing Theory to Supervision: An Initial Exploration

Although clinical supervision is an educational endeavor (Borders & Brown, 2005), many scholars neglect theories of learning in working with supervisees. The authors describe 1 learning theory—information processing theory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968, 1971; Schunk, 2016)—and the ways its associated interventions may enhance the supervision enterprise

Ethical Guidelines for Counseling Supervisors

The following Ethical Guidelines for Counseling Supervisors were adopted by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Governing Council in March of 1993. The guidelines were written by a subcommittee of the ACES Supervision Interest Group, which comprised the following members: Gordon Hart, Chair; L. DiAnne Borders; Don Nance; and Louis Paradise. The guidelines first appeared in ACES Spectrum, Volume 53, Number 4, Summer, 1993