<p> This study examined the difference between counselor empathic responding with and without a therapy dog in their counseling sessions was examined in a within-subjects design. Counseling consisted of animal-assisted therapy, play therapy, and other psychotherapeutic activities with elementary aged clients. Seven female school psychology graduate student clinicians were rated on their empathic responding using the Carkhuff (1969) Empathic Understanding in Interpersonal Processes Scale. A 2 (Dog Presence) X 4 (Empathy Level) analysis of variance was used to evaluate the difference between counselors&rsquo; empathic responding. The hypothesis that the therapy dog would have a beneficial impact on the counselors&rsquo; empathic responding was not supported by the results. The findings indicate that the therapist talks more when the dog is present, mainly due to an increase in Level 1, low empathic responses, and that higher level empathic responding did not vary between conditions as measured in utterances per minute. Further research is needed to determine how to incorporate an animal into therapy while maintaining the core facilitative condition of empathic understanding.</p><p>

<p> Problem: Although the literature is clear that low emotional distress tolerance is associated with a myriad of self-damaging behaviors, very little is known about individual difference factors in distress tolerance. Both theoretical and empirical support suggest that emotional reactivity and learned helplessness may be individual difference factors in distress tolerance. Specifically, individuals with high emotional reactivity and high learned helplessness may be at risk for low distress tolerance. Further research was needed to clarify the role of emotional reactivity and learned helplessness in distress tolerance in the context of self-damaging behaviors. </p><p> Method: Participants completed surveys which measured their (a) emotional reactivity, (b) learned helplessness, (c) distress tolerance, (d) two-week frequency of self-damaging behaviors, and (e) lifetime frequency of self-damaging behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used to test two models for the role of emotional reactivity and learned helplessness in distress tolerance. The first model was in the context of two-week frequency of self-damaging behaviors and the second model was in the context of lifetime frequency of self-damaging behaviors. </p><p> Results: Structural equation modeling indicated that the original models were a poor fit for the data. So, both models were revised on the basis of theory and modification indices. The revised models revealed that emotional reactivity and learned helplessness had negative direct effects on distress tolerance. Together, emotional reactivity and learned helplessness explained 70% of the observed variance in distress tolerance. Distress tolerance had a negative direct effect on two-week frequency of self-damaging behaviors, explaining 7% of the observed variance. Distress tolerance had a negative direct effect and depression had a positive direct effect on lifetime frequency of self-damaging behaviors, together explaining 36% of the observed variance. </p><p> Conclusions: This study confirmed emotional reactivity and learned helplessness as important individual difference factors in emotional distress tolerance. It suggests that high emotional reactivity and high learned helplessness contribute to low distress tolerance. This study also demonstrated that distress tolerance explains a small amount of variance in two-week frequency of self-damaging behaviors. Whereas, distress tolerance together with depression explains a larger amount of variance in lifetime frequency of self-damaging behaviors. These results have implications for researchers studying distress tolerance and self-damaging behaviors, clinicians treating clients with difficulty managing distress or with self-damaging behaviors, and individuals developing preventative initiatives to reduce the development of self-damaging behaviors. In particular, this study suggests that emotional reactivity may be an important target of clinical intervention and preventative education.</p><p>

<p> After over 20 years of multiple studies showing the efficaciousness of evidence-based therapies (EBTs) on trauma survivors, this study continues the initiation of an important direction that research with regards to EBTs on trauma survivors of diverse ethnoracial groups needs to take. The study attempted to show if EBTs are effective in reducing symptoms related to trauma from a real life setting population of trauma survivors from diverse ethnoracial backgrounds. The research also aimed to show if the EBTs in this study are effective within each ethnoracial group. Finally, the research explored if there are EBTs that are more effective on reducing certain trauma related symptoms over others within ethnoracial groups. The findings of this quantitative pre-post design research affirms the direction of previous research that demonstrates EBTs are likely applicable to diverse ethnoracial groups in a real world setting. Results also suggest that EBTs provided by frontline mental health providers in a community based setting are generally effective on numerous trauma symptoms and on the low-income, culturally diverse sample in the current study. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for further research are discussed.</p><p>

<p> Clinical utility has been offered by numerous researchers as a criterion for understanding the value of diagnostic constructs, but it does not yet have a standard operational definition or recommended forms of measurement. The construct has significant overlap with diagnostic validity and it is possible that sub-domains of clinical utility may emerge that would contribute to development of a scale which could assess for improvements and degradations following nosological revisions, and also provide opportunity for cross-analysis with alternative systems of mental health diagnosis. Therefore, the present study collected survey data from psychologists about the clinical utility of the <i>DSM-5,</i> using online data collection and quantitative methods. Seven questions of clinical utility were rated using a 5 point likert scale for each of the <i>DSM-5</i>'s diagnostic categories and for the <i>DSM-5</i> as an overall nosology. Descriptive data, internal consistency and inter-item correlations were analyzed so that results could help address research questions posed about the clinical utility of the <i> DSM-5</i>'s diagnostic categories, the merits of <i>DSM-5</i> when compared to <i>DSM-IV,</i> and additional recommendations regarding optimal measurement of the clinical utility of diagnostic constructs.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant proposal to identify resource materials that can be used in whole or adapted for a series of workshops for K&ndash;6 school social workers and their colleagues (teachers, counselors, and support staff) aimed at enhancing their knowledge and skills in child abuse and trauma prevention and intervention. The potential host agency will be Dr. Albert Schweitzer Elementary, a school in Anaheim, California. The grant writer developed the project after an extensive review of the literature available on child abuse and trauma. The project seeks to provide social workers and their colleagues with the skills and knowledge needed to aid in the prevention and treatment of child abuse and trauma. The Weingart Foundation was chosen as the potential funding source for this project. The actual funding and submission of this grant proposal was not a requirement for successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the evolution of the self in the context of becoming a psychotherapist. The subjective experiences of neophyte psychotherapists in their development toward the establishment of an integrated therapist identity were examined. Furthermore, the participants&rsquo; unique experiences of transformative change during their initial clinical encounters were analyzed for the purpose of addressing how the trainee moves through the variously proposed models of therapist identity development. Interpretive phenomenological analysis provided the ability to analyze the detailed recall of 6 participants&rsquo; subjective experiences via an open-ended, semistructured interview. First encounters with new patients, learning to manage the emotional interplay with patients, gaining confidence and self-awareness, presenting authentically with patients, personal upbringing, and the experience of a shift in their identity as a psychotherapist remained the generalized areas of focus. The reported anxieties related to the need to be a savior paralleling familial roles with possible failure. The movement through this coincided with a shift in what it means to be a therapist along with an increased sense of self-awareness, giving way to the possibility of presenting authentically with patients. Personal virtues acting as insulators in the face of overwhelming anxiety were seen as contributors to moving toward an integration of personal and professional identities. Finally, the implications of the findings and the impact of the insights gained were examined in regard to optimizing training and supervision of neophyte psychotherapists in an effort to increase quality of services provided.</p>

<p> Using a phenomenological hermeneutic embodied methodology, this study investigates the phenomenon of chronic illness as it is experienced internally. Through a focusing meditation and an embodied art directive, the stage is set to explore the phenomenon. Using a semi-structured protocol, participants were interviewed two times over a four-month period, and asked to identify how their internal experiences informed the management of their illness. Participants were also asked how this body-based information converged with medical prescriptions from primary care providers. Qualitative data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Participants took part as co-researchers in the coding process and two peer debriefers were engaged in a discursive analysis tracing themes across narratives to develop codes organized under three superordinate categories with ten corresponding subordinate headings. Three primary findings were clustered under the superordinates: 1.0 My body has a place at the table now, 2.0 My body as it relates to medicine, 3.0 Looking forward, looking back: making meaning from this body&rsquo;s history. Results indicate that participants used their bodies&rsquo; signs by recognizing the language that the body communicates, then processing the impact and making decisions about how to proceed. Secondly, participants described a time when their bodies conflicted with medical advice and the reality of what they were physically experiencing was so compelling they were obliged to go with the strong physical evidence that was expressed by their bodies. A third finding from this investigation is that individuals can have highly developed ideas about the origins of their illnesses and these ideas might play a pivotal role in their healing process.</p>

<p> Recent studies have focused on international students&rsquo; needs and experiences in counseling training and supervision, however, there is a lack of research regarding effective approaches for supervising international students. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether international counseling supervisees' perceptions regarding the degree to which multicultural discussion occurred in their university supervision moderates the relationship among supervision related variables, including acculturation, counselor self-efficacy, supervisory working alliance, and role ambiguity in supervision. The research questions were: (a) Does the frequency of cultural discussions in university supervision, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, moderate the relationship between acculturation to the US and counseling self-efficacy among international counseling students in the US, (b) Does the frequency of cultural discussions in university supervision, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, moderate the relationship between supervisory working alliance and counseling self-efficacy among international counseling students in the US, and (c) Does the frequency of cultural discussions in university supervision, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, moderate the relationship between supervisory working alliance and counseling self-efficacy among international counseling students in the US. Three moderation analyses were utilized, using regression analysis, to answer each research question. The results from the analysis indicated no significant moderating affect of frequency of multicultural discussions among supervision related variables of interest. Interpretation of the results included possibility of a direct relationship among the variables, or other potential moderators as well as probability of false negative results (Type II Error).</p>

<p> Being diagnosed with HIV challenges individuals physically, socially, and psychologically, and for most people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in the U.S. occurs in the contexts of lives already burdened by socioeconomic disadvantage and structural racism. Despite these challenges, little research examines the developmental process of psychological adaptation to HIV diagnosis, particularly among high-risk heterosexual (HRH) low-SES PLHA of color. This study, informed by ecological theory and Critical Race Theory uses qualitative methods to address this gap by operationalizing a new multidimensional construct of adaptation comprised of three mutually reinforcing sub-constructs (acceptance, engagement in medical care, disclosure of HIV status), and examining the factors that influence adaptation. Black and Latino adult HRH-PLHA (N = 140) were recruited through peer referral in Brooklyn, NY in 2012-2015. A subset (N = 28) were purposively sampled for maximum variation for in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews on the cognitive/behavioral process of adaptation to HIV diagnosis. Data were analyzed using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Most participants were male (60.8%); Black (78.6%; [21.4% Latino]); aged 47 years (SD=7.12 years) on average. Most were unemployed (92.9%); lacked basic necessities in the past year (75.0%); had histories of homelessness (71.4%) and incarceration (85.7%); and met criteria for lifetime problematic substance use (78.6%). Analyses revealed a construct of adaptation to HIV diagnosis that is multidimensional, where each sub-construct (acceptance, engagement in medical care, disclosure of HIV status) is an important, albeit not equally influential aspect of adaptation. Rather, acceptance is the foundation of adaptation, and a prerequisite for engagement in medical care and disclosure. Successful adaptation is characterized as a dynamic process where delayed acceptance is common, disclosure is a life-long process, and for some participants, is positively transformative. Finally, findings showed adaptation is influenced by a dynamic interplay of individual-level and contextual factors (i.e. problematic substance use, social support, diagnosis in coercive environments, poverty and its resultant chaos, and the historical legacy of AZT-monotherapy). Implications include a need for interventions that incorporate trauma-informed approaches and that appreciate the pervasive influence of distal contexts (structural racism, poverty) on the lived experience of low-SES HRH-PLHA of color adapting to their HIV diagnosis.</p>

<p> Due to the increasing number of persons of Arab descent living in the United States, estimated at over 3.5 million in 2012, there has been a recognized need for a deeper understanding of acculturative, gender, and immigration-related stressors that Arab American women face. In response to this need, a one-day workshop for mental health professionals interested in or currently working with women of Arab descent living in the United States was developed. The workshop focuses on increasing knowledge of the various types of stress (e.g., acculturation, discrimination, gender role strain, parent-child relationships, care giver, familial, cultural expectations, work, school, etc.) experienced by Arab American women and providing culturally congruent stress reduction interventions. The development of the curriculum was informed by existing literature on people of Arab descent living in the United States, cultural issues in serving diverse populations, and stress management interventions. Interviews with 3 Arab American women were integrated with the literature and the 1-day workshop curriculum was developed. The curriculum was reviewed by 2 current practicing psychologists who rated the content, strengths, and weaknesses of the curriculum. Their feedback was incorporated into a compilation of suggestions and future directions for the refining and evaluating curriculum.</p>