Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 1963. / Photocopy of typescript original. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-69).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 103 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-93).

<p>The purpose of this study was to assess comparable or differential effects of a therapeutic art (AT) intervention, a cognitive behavioral (CBT) intervention, and no treatment (NT) on levels of Mood, Stress, and perceived Quality of Life in a sample of adult women. Positive results could add to the empirical research on the use of expressive arts in the therapeutic setting. Fifty four non clinical adult women from the Northern Arizona University community were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. Data were collected electronically through questionnaires pretreatment, post treatment, and at three week post treatment follow up. Measures used were the International Positive and Negative Affect Scales - Short Form (IPANAS-SF), for mood, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales - 21 (DASS-21) for stress, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Form (WHOQOL-BREF) for quality of life. All three measures are reliable and have been validated in numerous studies with thousands of subjects. Mixed ANOVAs were calculated with General Linear Model in SPSS on raw scores and on Change Scores by group over time. Overall findings show that, for a one time brief intervention, art provided an immediate improvement in mood, stress, and perceived quality of life for the participants and was comparable to (or exceeded) the effects of the CBT intervention and the results from the NT group. Longer studies with other non-clinical adult women are recommended to further substantiate the findings.

<p> Many forms of distance clinical supervision (DCS) have been used in the last decade, but a sparse amount of research addressing (DCS) in counselor education exists to date. The author used random and snowball sampling to survey American Counseling Association members, with a analytic sample total of 96 participants. In the sample, 54.2% of participants were licensed counseling professionals and 39.6% were student or post-masters level interns. The average participant age was 43, ranging from 23 to 74 years. Participants had a mean of 8.1 years of experience. A total of 37.5% of participants had used DCS at some point for supervision sessions. Overall, participants have a positive attitude toward DCS, agreeing most that DCS is a valid form of supervision and that they are interested in learning about DCS. Overall, participants are being minimally exposed to DCS (<i>x&macr;</i> = 1.61). A moderate, negative relationship (<i>r</i> = -.39, p &lt; .001) exists between individuals whom have used DCS and attitudes toward DCS (Cohen, Cohen, West, &amp; Aiken, 2003, p. 52). Also, a weak, negative relationship (<i>r</i> = -.23, p &lt; .05) was found between individuals who have used DCS and their level of exposure to DCS. There is a limited amount of literature related to DCS and counseling professionals are being minimally exposed to distance clinical supervision. Despite limited exposure and literature, professionals are still using DCS to conduct supervision sessions. Therefore, it would seem important to increase research focused on DCS and develop relevant practices in order for DCS to be an effective form of supervision.</p>

<p> The concept of attraction and couple satisfaction has been of great interest in the field of psychology. However, there is limited research in relation to the factors of marital happiness and opposite personalities, particularly in how these are expressed through after dating or their relationship when evaluation through a time-span approach. This study attempted to fill this gap. The research question for this study was: What is the experience of being happily married among couples who have been together for at least five years and consider themselves as opposite from each other? This study used a generic qualitative inquiry, purposive sampling, and thematic analysis of the data. The generic qualitative study focused on six opposite-in-personality, happily married couples, most of whom were African American. These couples provided a rich description of their experiences of being married to their spouse, whom they believed to be opposite in personality. The 12 participants had the average age of 46.83 years, and couples were married an average of 14.33 years. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to describe the experience of happily married couples who considered themselves opposites in terms of personalities. The major themes that emerged from the data were accepting the differences, complementary traits, foundation of the relationship, wanting a partner who is different, being around each other, conflict resolution, and communication is key. It is the hope of the researcher that this study will spark additional research that utilizes personality inventories and evaluate how personality differences impact marital satisfaction over time.</p><p>

<p> Trauma is ubiquitous in our society, taking a costly toll on the physical and psychological well-being of individuals across all social strata, and creating an ever-increasing need for better understanding of how to help the victim survivors. The purpose of this current study addresses an aspect of that need for understanding by examining the lived experiences of clinicians who have learned about trauma and who are addressing trauma survivors&rsquo; needs by acting as supervisors for other clinicians. This qualitative, phenomenologically oriented study used van Manen&rsquo;s (1990) four lived existentials, Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s (1979, 2005) bio-ecological model of human development, and existing trauma literature as its base. Historically, basic trauma education has not been provided to master&rsquo;s or doctoral level students in counselor education programs. The rapidly expanding base of trauma literature has referenced knowledgeable, competent supervision as a necessity for therapists working with traumatized clients, yet little has been written about those supervisors, how they are trained and educated, and their lived experience in the process of becoming competent trauma supervisors </p><p> For this study, eight clinicians who have been supervising other clinicians who work with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse were interviewed. The results were summarized into five themes that focused on the ubiquity of trauma, the &ldquo;trial by fire&rdquo; learning that was required to become knowledgeable, the rise to supervisory roles for which participants were sometimes unprepared, what they needed but didn&rsquo;t get, and what they deem necessary to support them in their work. The author suggests ways in which the field of counselor education could be enhanced to better support supervisors in addressing the needs of their supervisees, and those of their traumatized clients.</p><p>

Genetic testing to determine whether a woman carries a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, which may entail an up to 80% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, is relatively recent. As there is an apparent void in the literature investigating the experiences of these women, and few qualitative studies of this nature exist, six women identified as carriers were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The grounded theory method was utilized and through findings emerged two core categories: Context Following the Receipt of the Test Results and Living with the BRCA Genetic Mutation: An Uncertain Conclusion to an Unending Process. Specifically, following the receipt of their test result, participants reported changes in their self-perception and perception of others. Over time, participants described living with the BRCA gene mutation and its medical consequences. Particularly significant findings consisted of participants feeling less like a woman, feeling stigmatized, and living with unending uncertainty.

This aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the experience of suicide bereavement and how coping and meaning making occurs. Additionally, the use of spirituality as a means of coping and making sense of suicide was studied. This is a new area that has been previously unexamined in suicide bereavement research. Using the methodology of transactional phenomenology, the experience of suicide bereavement was studied from the perspectives of those bereaved by suicide, mental health practitioners who work with the bereaved, and a cross-over group of survivors who were also practitioners. Results show that survivors and practitioners are in agreement on many aspects of coping and meaning making following suicide bereavement. However, there are also instances where these groups provided differing insights. Perspectives between groups are compared and several best practices when working with those bereaved by suicide are presented and discussed.

<p> Problem: The literature suggests that religious orientation and ethnic identity inform the religious coping process, which is better understood in the context of a particular stressor. However, research on this topic is limited, particularly among ethnic minorities. </p><p> Method: A survey was used to collect data on religious orientation, ethnic identity, and religious coping from a sample of 319 adults who had lost a significant other within 36 months of the study. A total of 11 variables were measured using The Means-Ends Spirituality Questionnaire, the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised, and the Brief RCOPE. </p><p> Results: A canonical variate labeled "religious engagement" was a predictor for religious coping. Further analyses using multiple regression found that variables associated with traditional religious expressions (Devotional Spiritual Means), spiritual ends with a transcendental focus (Approach-unseen-autonomous Ends, Avoidance-unseen-external Ends), and Ethnic Identity were relevant predictors of Positive Religious Coping while Transcendental Means was a relevant predictor of Negative Religious Coping. </p><p> A stepwise discriminant analysis found that "ethnic identity and conservative religious orientation" discriminated between ethnic groups. Cases with higher levels of ethnic identity and conservative religious orientation were more likely to be classified as Black/African American or Hispanic/Latino/a, while those with lower levels were more likely to be classified as White. </p><p> Conclusions: When coping with bereavement, individuals who engage in traditional expressions of spiritual worship and strive to achieve ordinary and transcendental spiritual goals are more likely to rely on a secure relationship with the sacred, a belief that life has meaning, and a sense of connectedness with their religious community. Also, individuals who place greater value and emotional significance in their sense of belonging to their ethnic group are more likely to engage in positive religious coping. Thus, counseling psychologists should strengthen their multicultural and spiritual competencies in order to provide ethical and effective services to a population that is increasingly diverse.</p>

<p> This study was designed to determine if a mental health professional&rsquo;s web presence with use of social media icons (or badges) would impact upon the perceived competence of that therapist. The icons were those of the three major social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. The 162 participants consisted of undergraduate students enrolled at two major universities located in the western United States. The participants were asked to think of themselves as help-seekers for purposes of this study. Three mock web pages were designed, one with no social media icons presented, one with social media icons which laid claim to a low number of Likes, Followers, and Pluses (terms of art used by Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus respectively), and one with social media icons which laid claim to an extraordinarily high number of Likes, Followers, and Pluses. Participants were evenly split between males and females, and then placed at random into groups of 27 that then viewed one of the three mock web pages. Participants were asked to rate the fictional therapist as to perceived overall competence, as well as to indicate their willingness to make initial contact with that therapist. The measurement instrument used was the Counselor Rating Form &ndash; Short Version (CRF-S). Results were not statistically significant. Findings and potential for future research are discussed.</p>