Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript. Sponsor: Esther McDonald Lloyd Jones. Dissertation Committee: Raymond A. Patouillet, Elbert K. Fretwell, Jr. Type A project. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-166).

Help-seeking attitudes are the tendencies to seek or resist professional psychological services during crises or after prolonged psychological difficulties. Although African American undergraduate college students are just as distressed as students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds, they are less likely to seek psychological counseling at their college counseling centers. The primary focus of this research was to assess help-seeking attitudes of African American undergraduate college students attending predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Furthermore, scant attention has been devoted to examining the impact of perceived racism and racial identity development on the African American undergraduates' willingness to seek out psychological assistance. For this study, 186 participants completed a sociodemographic survey and four measures including, the Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) Short Form (Fischer & Farina, 1995), Intentions to Seek Counseling Instrument (ISCI; Cash et. al., 1975; Kelly & Acher, 1995), the Perceived Racism Scale (PRS; McNeilly et al., 1996), and the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS; Cross & Vandiver, 2001). Results from quantitative analyses suggest that positive racial identity is related to higher rates of accessing counseling. Help-seeking attitudes were the biggest predictors of intentions to seek counseling, and perceived racism is negatively correlated with intentions to seek counseling. These results suggest that racial identity development and the campus climate of PWIs impact the rates at which African American undergraduate students seek services at their college counseling centers. Implications for counseling and directions for future research are also discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Judy Hughey / College counseling has been a unique profession among the helping professions that seeks to provide mental health and academic support to college students. One vocational danger for college counselors has been the onset of burnout. The loss of resources leading to burnout, as explained by the Conservation of Resources theory, may have been connected to today’s higher education administrative position of performing more responsibilities with less staffing. This research study examined the relationship between work duties assigned to college counselors, as measured by the College Counselor Activity Rating Scale, and the level of burnout for those counselors, as measured by the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. The first five hypotheses examined the relationship between burnout and non-counseling duties by utilizing a hierarchical multiple regression analysis with various tests of mediation and moderation. The sixth hypothesis explored the assertion that college counselors at small institutions of higher education (institutional enrollment less than 5000 students) are more likely to engage in non-counseling duties. Members of the American College Counseling Association were recruited to serve as the population sample frame for the study. Because no instrument existed to measure counseling and non-counseling duties for college counselors, the College Counselor Activity Rating Scale was developed as a part of the study. Validation procedures were utilized in the form of an expert panel and pilot study for the College Counselor Activity Rating Scale. Of the six null hypotheses, all six were retained with limited power. Further analysis showed statistically significant relationships between burnout, perceived workload, and meaningful work. In addition, three non-counseling duties items, all related to administrative duties, were statistically significantly related to burnout. The key findings, implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.

Background: Several college students experience psychological distress and access college counseling center services every year. A subgroup of this population, collegiate student-athletes, experience unique stressors and protective factors but are less likely to engage in those same services. Mental health research on this subpopulation is still sparse and yields mixed findings, particularly treatment outcome research. Objective: This study aimed to compare the treatment outcomes of student-athletes and general population students. Method: Participants were 10,566 college students (ages 18-26) from 139 universities in the United States that obtained routine psychological treatment at their college counseling center. Approximately 55% of the sample identified as female, 44% as male, and less than 1% identified as transgender or self-specified. The ethnicity of the sample was approximately 76% White, 10% African American/Black, 5% Hispanic/Latino, 3% Asian/Asian American, 4% Multiracial, 1% Self-identified, < 1% American Indian/Alaska Native, and < 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The measures used for this study were the Standardized Data Set (SDS) and the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS-62). Differences in the number of sessions attended, initial distress at intake, and change in symptoms were calculated between the two groups along eight domains of distress. Results: 8% of the sample identified as student-athletes. There are no differences in the number of sessions attended. Student-athletes entered treatment self-reporting lower levels of distress on all eight domains of the CCAPS-62. Student-athletes reported greater symptom improvement in five of the eight domains of the CCAPS-62 and no differences in the other three. There were no differences between the two groups in the proportion of participants that recovered, reliably improved, did not change, or deteriorated across treatment. Conclusions: Although student-athletes are accessing psychological treatment less frequently, they may be able to experience the same or better outcomes than their general population peers tend to when they do.

No description available.

Background: Several college students experience psychological distress and access college counseling center services every year. A subgroup of this population, collegiate student-athletes, experience unique stressors and protective factors but are less likely to engage in those same services. Mental health research on this subpopulation is still sparse and yields mixed findings, particularly treatment outcome research. Objective: This study aimed to compare the treatment outcomes of student-athletes and general population students. Method: Participants were 10,566 college students (ages 18-26) from 139 universities in the United States that obtained routine psychological treatment at their college counseling center. Approximately 55% of the sample identified as female, 44% as male, and less than 1% identified as transgender or self-specified. The ethnicity of the sample was approximately 76% White, 10% African American/Black, 5% Hispanic/Latino, 3% Asian/Asian American, 4% Multiracial, 1% Self-identified, <1% American Indian/Alaska Native, and <1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The measures used for this study were the Standardized Data Set (SDS) and the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS-62). Differences in the number of sessions attended, initial distress at intake, and change in symptoms were calculated between the two groups along eight domains of distress. Results: 8% of the sample identified as student-athletes. There are no differences in the number of sessions attended. Student-athletes entered treatment self-reporting lower levels of distress on all eight domains of the CCAPS-62. Student-athletes reported greater symptom improvement in five of the eight domains of the CCAPS-62 and no differences in the other three. There were no differences between the two groups in the proportion of participants that recovered, reliably improved, did not change, or deteriorated across treatment. Conclusions: Although student-athletes are accessing psychological treatment less frequently, they may be able to experience the same or better outcomes than their general population peers tend to when they do.

The purpose of this study was to assess mental health counseling services provided by Florida public community colleges and universities. The researcher of this study designed the Counseling Center Questionnaire instrument. This instrument consisted of two different questionnaires, one for community colleges and the other for universities. The questionnaires were developed to ascertain information regarding mental health services provided by higher education institutions. The questionnaires yielded information pertaining to (a) which Florida community colleges and public universities were offering mental health counseling services to students, (b) the types of mental health counseling services provided, (c) the types of problems/issues students were reporting to counseling centers, and (d) the scope of mental health counseling services provided by Florida community colleges and universities. The findings indicated that only 5 of 20 Florida community colleges provided mental health services to students and all 7 universities who responded to the questionnaire provided such services to students. Community colleges provided fewer mental health services than did 4-year institutions. According to higher education counseling officials, students in all institutions experienced many of the same types of issues or problems including Anxiety, Depression, Bi-polar Disorders, Substance Abuse, Eating Disorders and Schizophrenia. Depression was the most frequently reported mental health issue among all students.

The purpose of this study was to focus on the theoretical framework of cultural capital as a potential catalyst for the graduation rates of African American men in community colleges. Cultural capital is being defined as 'institutionalized, i.e., widely shared, high status cultural signals (attitudes, preferences, formal knowledge, behaviors, goods and credentials) used for social and cultural exclusion' (Lareau and Weininger, 2003, p. 587). Unfortunately, cultural capital as a construct has been difficult to measure quantitatively due to varying interpretations of the variable structure (Dika and Singh, 2002; Pishghadam, Noghani, and Zabihi, 2011; Sullivan, 2001). Consequently, researchers have indicated the need to better operationalize cultural capital, to provide better avenues for both replication and extension of the constructs measurement (Noble and Davies, 2009). Therefore, this study first employed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88/00) to determine the latent variable structure of a measure of cultural capital in the community college field. Second, a factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted based on the new variable structure to determine whether there are differences in the self-reported levels of cultural capital for African American male students as compared to male and female students of other races within community colleges. Third, a binary logistic regression was conducted to determine how well the variables of cultural capital predict graduation for African American men in community colleges. The EFA, utilizing a sample of 3097 participants, extracted six factors indicative of the latent variable structure of cultural capital: (a) parental involvement, (b) habitus, (c) engagement with parents, (d) educational level of parents, (e) high school extracurricular activities, and (f) awareness of college norms. The resultant variable structure was then used to determine that there were no significant differences between the self-reported levels of cultural capital for African American male students and both male and female students from other races within community colleges. Similarly, the variables of cultural capital were not found to be a significant predictor of graduation for African American males within the community college field. As a result, implications for future research were outlined to include replicating the study with a more current dataset and replicating the study with a four-year student population. Additionally, implications for counselors in community college settings included highlighting an awareness of college norms, encouraging student engagement with parents, increasing parental involvement, and promoting collaboration with high school counselors and college counselors in high school environments. / Ph. D.

This study documents how organizational strategies underlying college counseling departments modify counselors’ ability to perform their academic and college advising duties. To examine this, fifteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews with public high school counselors in Southern California were conducted. A district’s commitment to college access and opportunity, as well as parents’ expectations for maintaining a college-going culture, shaped the nature of college counseling and organizational habitus in a school. Counselors reported that access to different forms of institutional support and resources diminish or exacerbate the structural constraints known to surface in public schools. This influenced when and how counselors advised students, which offered different views of the educational opportunity structure. Additionally, findings indicate that both college preparation programs and culturally sensitive counselors work to remedy educational disparities and increase the college enrollment rates of working-class minority students.

College counseling centers (CCCs) have experienced funding and staffing setbacks in recent years, resulting in higher caseloads, counselor burnout, and bloated waitlists. Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions may offer a cost-effective and innovative solution. The authors developed ACT Daily, a prototype mHealth app based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This study examined the feasibility and possible efficacy of ACT Daily as a brief intervention for individuals placed on CCC waitlists. A sample of 11 depressed/anxious clients waitlisted at a local CCC enrolled in the study, which followed a pre-post, open trial design. Participants received a brief online training that covered the basics of ACT and introduced the app’s functions and features. For the following 2 weeks, participants were asked to use ACT Daily every day. Results displayed high acceptability, usability, and satisfaction ratings across users. Significant improvements were observed on most ACT process measures, including overall psychological inflexibility. Findings from app usage and self-report measures supported ACT Daily’s ability to promote skill use in the moment. Analyses of in-app data indicated that ACT Daily’s skills were potentially effective in the moment and increased in strength over time. Furthermore, ACT Daily appeared to serve as a helpful pre-therapy tool due to significant reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as improvements in emotional self-awareness. Finally, the online training appeared to equip users with a sufficient comprehension of core ACT components and app training. While this pilot study suffered from a low sample size, this pattern of results encourages the application and dissemination of ACT mHealth apps as an added support for waitlisted CCC clients suffering from depression or anxiety. Moreover, it appears that ACT Daily may have enabled users to acquire, strengthen, and potentially generalize useful ACT skills. It is theorized that the app facilitated in-the-moment learning of skills that could then be applied directly to real-world contexts. Future research is advised to target larger, more diverse samples, implement a randomized controlled trial design, add objective behavioral and physiological measures, incorporate all six ACT processes, and integrate client feedback into future iterations of ACT Daily.