Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2006. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-121). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Due to demographic shifts and efforts to recruit culturally diverse professionals, it is plausible that more Caucasians will encounter ethnic minority counselors in the future. Yet, the majority of multicultural literature has only emphasized Caucasian counselors' multicultural counseling competence. Research has rarely discussed how ethic minority counselors influence the perceptions of Caucasian clients. The research purpose was to explore how acculturation and gender of Asian and Caucasian counselors influence Caucasians' perceptions of the counselors and counseling services. With an analog research design, 562 Caucasian college students read 1 of 8 randomly assigned counselor descriptions, which were varied by counselor characteristics, and reported their perceptions on dependent measures: Counselor Rating Form - Short Version (CRF-S), Working Alliance Inventory - Short (WAI-S) and 4 Willingness items. With the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help - Shortened Form as a covariate, 15 hypotheses were expected that Caucasians would prefer high-acculturated, same sex, and same ethnic counselors tested by simple contrast, while an exploratory question, investigating main and interaction effects among independent variables (counselor ethnicity, acculturation and gender, and participant gender) on dependent measures, was examined by MANCOVA and ANCOVA. Although only 2 of 15 hypotheses showed significance, the exploratory investigation revealed: Caucasian participants had a preference of high-acculturated counselors on CRF-S attractiveness, WAI-S and willingness to seek help. However, present data did not replicate the impression of similar ethnic matching in counseling dyads. On CRF-S expertness, Caucasian participants reported that Asian male counselors were perceived as more expert than Caucasian male counselors. For gender differences, the current finding showed that female participants were more willing to seek help for academic/career concerns, whereas male participants were more willing to discuss their somatic concerns. For the research implications, with appropriate trainings in multicultural counseling competence, both Caucasian and non-Caucasian counselors could become effective therapists. Counseling agencies may need to keep counselors' background information minimum so it would not impede counseling relationships. With the limitation of analog study, the generalization of the current findings to actual clinical settings needs to be cautious. The qualitative research approach could expand our understandings concerning the current research direction in depth.

The school counseling field has evolved over the years and increasingly clarified school counselors' job roles and activities (Burnham & Jackson, 2000; Cervoni & DeLucia-Waack, 2011; Shillingford & Lambie, 2010; Trolley, 2011); however, school counselors\' job roles and activities remain inconsistently understood and practiced (Burnham & Jackson; Cervoni & DeLucia-Waack; Gysbers & Henderson, 2012; Hatch & Chen-Hayes, 2008; Herr & Erford, 2011; Lambie & Williamson, 2004; Perera-Diltz & Mason, 2008; Rayle & Adams, 2008; Scarborough & Culbreth, 2008; Shillingford & Lambie; Studer, Diambra, Breckner & Heidel, 2011; Trolley).  School counselors are highly trained in academic preparation programs to perform school counseling job activities in schools (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2008).  At the same time, the job expectations taught in academic preparation programs can differ from the actual school counseling job (Allen et al., 2002; Bodenhorn, 2006; Brott & Myers, 1999; Chambers, Zyromski, Asner-Self, and Kimemia, 2010; Culbreth, Scarborough, Banks-Johnson, & Solomon, 2005; Holcomb-McCoy, 2001; Kolodinsky, Draves, Schroder, Lindsey, & Zlatev, 2009; Milsom, 2002; Mustaine, Pappalardo & Wyrick, 1996; National Office for School Counselor Advocacy [NOSCA], 2011, 2012a; Pérusse & Goodnough, 2005; Sisson & Bullis, 1992; Steen, Bauman, & Smith, 2008; Trolley). As a result, several researchers recommended collecting data on school counselors' perceptions of the effectiveness of academic preparation to perform work related practices (Kolodinsky et al.; Pérusse & Goodnough; Pérusse, Goodnough, & Noël, 2001; Sisson & Bullis; Trolley).   In this dissertation study the author gathered information on and examined discrepancies between school counselors\' reported academic preparation and actual job activities.  The author will describe an overview of the problem in Chapter One, an in-depth literature review will be conducted in Chapter Two, the methodology will be described in Chapter Three, the results of the study will be outlined in Chapter Four, and lastly, Chapter Five will include a discussion of the results of the study, including implications and recommendations. / Ph. D.

Research suggests that counselor educators continue to debate whether general personality characteristics, relationship building skills, or other knowledge or skills are important in selecting the most effective counselors (Crews et al., 2005). Further, counselor educators continue to rely on measures that have limited ability to predict counseling competence or success in graduate programs. Such measures include GRE and GPA scores along with heavy reliance on the personal interview that is well-known for bias. Moreover, research supports that there is a need for assessments that will assist in determining the most effective counselors and emphasize the importance of measuring those characteristics that have a solid empirical link to client outcomes. The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap in the literature and to measure counselor characteristics that have are grounded in current outcome literature. Outcome research has suggested that counselor empathy is one of the strongest predictors of client outcome. Therefore, two constructs were explored in this study that are linked to empathy: Loevinger‘s (1976) Theory of Ego Development and Altruistic Caring as measured by the Heintzelman Inventory (Robinson, Kuch, & Swank, 2010). The sample consisted of 81 graduate-level counselor trainees in their first or second semester of practicum at a large South Eastern university. Results revealed no statistically significant relationship between variables. However, further exploratory analysis yielded a statistically significant relationship between a component of altruistic caring, specifically early career choice in the counseling field (4.1% of the variance explained), and client outcome. Implications for counselor educators are presented along with areas for future research.

Recent research in counselor training has focused on the difficulties and challenges facing counseling practitioners that result in high stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and counselor impairment. The American Counseling Association's (ACA) Code of Ethics has addressed the ethical issues inherent in counselor impairment. Further, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) has focused on the development of counselors that will assist them in being resilient to workplace stressors. Wellness is a theoretically based construct that holds much promise for bolstering the resilience of pre-service counselors. In addition, counselor self-efficacy has been linked to greater advocacy for self and others, the use of higher order counseling skills, greater problem solving practice, and more self-regulated, ethical decision making. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between counselor self-efficacy and counselor wellness. A total of 88 participants completed both the Five Factor Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle Inventory and the Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale. Demographic and descriptive statistics were included along with a Multiple Regression Analysis. Results did not indicate a statistically significant relationship. Potential limitations, implications for counselor educators, and future research directions were elucidated.

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The problem investigated in this exploratory research is that, with the increasing numbers of students with refugee status enrolled in Arizona's schools, there is no information about the preparation school counselors receive in serving populations specific to students who have refugee status. No hypotheses are proposed in this study. Instead, research questions inquire about how school counselors in Arizona perceive the educational experiences and opportunities of refugee youth, the counseling relationship of students with refugee status and school counselors, and school counselors' attitudes toward working with refugee youth in school counseling programs. The results of this study provide insight into the perception of school counselors in Arizona and their need for additional skills or training to work with refugee youth at their schools.