A Study of the Overlap of School Counselor Identity and Duties

Professional school counselors (N=92) across grade levels completed the Professional Identity of School Counselors survey (PISC) online to provide their views of professional identity and the concepts of leadership, collaboration, advocacy, multiculturalism, and the general delivery (e.g., counseling, consulting, individual planning, and guidance curriculum), management (i.e., how school counselors organize their time in meeting student needs), and accountability (e.g., collecting, using, and reporting the results of data) tasks of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model. Participants identified advocacy, delivery services, and collaboration as most important to the professional identity of school counselors. None of the top activities were leadership or da-ta collection tasks. Implications and practical suggestions for counselor educators and professional school counselors are provided

Aspiring Counselors’ Mental Health: Recognizing Students’ Wellbeing as an Impactor on Development

Aspiring Counselors (AC) are learning to navigate professional knowledge and skills while engaging in developmentally necessary self-reflection. Wellness, as a professional cornerstone, has been an emphasis in the instruction and development of AC. AC’s development can have barriers of professional and personal disposition, such as un-met or underattended mental health concerns which may require remediation. AC may also have higher prevalence of adverse childhood and trauma experiences. Exploring the current literature on AC’s development, wellness, and adverse childhood experiences and trauma provides insights in how counselor educators can structure programs in a more proactive rather than responsive way. The purpose of this manuscript is to explore AC’s development, wellness, gatekeeping and remediation, and adverse childhood experiences or trauma

Work and Career Experiences of Men from Families without College Experience

A dearth of research exists exploring the career and work development of adult men and the influence of family-of-origin on that development. In this qualitative study, the researchers used a phenomenological approach to examine the career and work experiences of men whose parents have no education beyond high school and the influences of family on these experiences. We describe five constituents: (a) what work is like; (b) preparation/education; (c) who or what influenced them; (d) how to act at work; and (e) challenges/opportunities/choices; and one essence: mottos from father, which articulate the meaning of the experience of work and career and the family influence on the experience. In conclusion, we provide implications for counselors working with adult men whose parents lack post-secondary education

College-going beliefs of prospective first-generation college students : perceived barriers, social supports, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations

" Approximately 27% of all graduating high school seniors are prospective first-generation college students. First-generation college students are defined as those whose parents have no formal education beyond high school. Unfortunately, most of the research to date on this group has focused on these students once they arrive at college. Because not all prospective first-generation students complete, or even begin, college, vital information is lacking about this group of students. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the college-going beliefs of middle school students who would be the first in their families to attend college as compared to their peers. Specifically, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) was applied to help explain the college-related barriers, social supports, self-efficacy beliefs, and outcome expectations of prospective first-generation college students and their peers. In addition, background variables such as gender, ethnicity, and parent educational level, which are believed to affect the learning experiences upon which self-efficacy and outcome beliefs are formed, were examined as well. In this study, each of these constructs was examined through the use of an extensive written assessment. The participants in this study were 7th grade students (n = 272) from four middle schools in a single southeastern state. Of these participants, 105 were prospective first-generation college students. As proposed in the hypotheses for this study, factorial ANOVAs helped demonstrate differences in perceived barriers, parent support, self-efficacy beliefs, and positive outcome expectations between first-generation students and their peers. Path analyses for the full sample as well as separated by first-generation status indicated partial support for SCCT. The influence of background variables, barriers, and supports on strength of college-going intentions differed for prospective first-generation college students as compared to their peers. Evidence was provided to suggest that barriers and supports may have a direct effect on outcome beliefs in addition to self-efficacy beliefs for both groups of participants, although in different ways. Suggestions for how to apply this information to the counseling profession as well as directions for future research are discussed. This study emphasized the many differences between first-generation students and their peers and highlighted the need for early interventions with this population "--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Variation in Intraoperative and Postoperative Utilization for 3 Common General Surgery Procedures.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to understand variation in intraoperative and postoperative utilization for common general surgery procedures.Summary background dataReducing surgical costs is paramount to the viability of hospitals.MethodsRetrospective analysis of electronic health record data for 7762 operations from 2 health systems. Adult patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, appendectomy, and inguinal/femoral hernia repair between November 1, 2013 and November 30, 2017 were reviewed for 3 utilization measures: intraoperative disposable supply costs, procedure time, and postoperative length of stay (LOS). Crossed hierarchical regression models were fit to understand case-mixed adjusted variation in utilization across surgeons and locations and to rank surgeons.ResultsThe number of surgeons performing each type of operation ranged from 20 to 63. The variation explained by surgeons ranged from 8.9% to 38.2% for supply costs, from 15.1% to 54.6% for procedure time, and from 1.3% to 7.0% for postoperative LOS. The variation explained by location ranged from 12.1% to 26.3% for supply costs, from 0.2% to 2.5% for procedure time, and from 0.0% to 31.8% for postoperative LOS. There was a positive correlation (ρ = 0.49, P = 0.03) between surgeons' higher supply costs and longer procedure times for hernia repair, but there was no correlation between other utilization measures for hernia repair and no correlation between any of the utilization measures for laparoscopic appendectomy or cholecystectomy.ConclusionsSurgeons are significant drivers of variation in surgical supply costs and procedure time, but much less so for postoperative LOS. Intraoperative and postoperative utilization profiles can be generated for individual surgeons and may be an important tool for reducing surgical costs

A measure of college-going self-efficacy for middle school students.

Many career and educational plans are made well before high school graduation. School counselors' efforts to support these plans are limited by the lack of assessments of middle school students' college-going beliefs. Development of the College-Going Self-Efficacy Scale for middle school students is described in this article. Initial evidence of validity and reliability from three separate studies is reported, and suggestions for using this scale with students are provided