Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
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Item Getting on the Same Page: Associations of Immediacy and Client-Therapist Alliance Congruence(2022) Hillman, Justin William; Kivlighan, Jr., Dennis M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the within-dyad association of immediacy (i.e., a skill that therapists use to work with the therapeutic relationship in the here-and-now) with the strength and congruence of the working alliance across 1352 sessions of 58 adult community clients seeing 11 doctoral student therapists in individual psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapy. As a preliminary step, the factor structure and validity were tested for the Metacommunication in Session Questionnaire–Client Form (MSQ-C), a client-rated measure of immediacy adapted from the supervisory MSQ (Calvert, Deane, & Grenyer, 2020). After every session, clients and therapists completed the Working Alliance Inventory–Short Revised (WAI-SR; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006) and clients completed the MSQ-C. Factor analysis supported a two-factor structure for MSQ-C (Open Communication and Managing Disagreement/Discomfort factors). Validity of the MSQ-C was supported by predicted correlations with measures of helping skills, sessions quality, alliance, and therapist reported immediacy use, although some associations varied depending on the client or therapist rater perspective. Results of multilevel, latent variable models found that when clients reported more immediacy in a session compared to their average session, they tended to report a stronger alliance; and this effect was strongest in earlier sessions, weaker in magnitude in middle sessions, and non-significant in later sessions. Results of multilevel truth-and-bias models showed that therapist alliance ratings were temporally congruent with client alliance ratings, but client-perceived immediacy did not predict alliance congruence. Limitations and future directions are discussed.Item Identity Conflict Among Religious Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals: The Role of Coping Strategies on Psychological Distress(2021) Yeung, Jeffrey Garrick; Lent, Robert W; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Sexual minority people experience more negative physical and mental health compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people who also identify as religious and spiritual may experience additional negative health outcomes especially in the case that their religious and spiritual values, beliefs, and practices come into conflict with their sexual minority identity. Applying minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) and the integrative psychological mediation model (Hatzenbuehler, 2009), the present study takes an intersectionality approach (Crenshaw,1989) that examines the relationship between LGB and religious identity conflict and psychological distress and whether religious coping and discrimination-based (i.e., internalization and detachment) coping strategies meditate this link. Participants consisted of 469 religious LGB Christian adults in the United States who took an online survey. Results from a parallel multiple mediator analysis (Hayes, 2018) revealed that religious LGB identity conflict was indirectly related to more psychological distress via internalization coping, detachment coping, and negative religious coping. Unexpectedly, positive religious coping was not significantly related to the study variables, nor did it mediate the identity conflict and psychological distress link. Findings provide evidence for integration and application of intersectionality, minority stress, and psychological mediation theories to examine intersectional identity conflict between one’s LGB and religious identity, identity-specific coping meditators, and psychological distress. A discussion of the study results, limitations, and implications for future research and practice follows.Item AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF A MEASURE OF VOCATIONAL IDENTITY FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING PERSONS(2012) Tosado, Luis; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Two overlapping issues have given rise to this study: the need for assessment instruments to use with Spanish-speaking Latinos and the need for normative data on current and future Spanish-language instruments. Numerous career assessment instruments exist for the English-speaking population. These instruments may be administered on computer-based systems or in paper and pencil format, but few instruments exist for use with the Spanish-speaking population. Holland's Vocational Identity Scale is widely used both as a screening instrument to assess the need for vocational assistance and as an outcome measure in studies of counseling effects. To examine the feasibility of using this English-language instrument with a Spanish-speaking population, a translation of the English- language instrument was prepared, internal consistency of the translated scale was scrutinized, and explorations of the construct validity of the instrument were undertaken. Norms based on a Spanish speaking sample were produced. An overarching question for this study was whether a Spanish translation of My Vocational Situation, which contains the Vocational Identity scale, would yield similar results in terms of reliability and correlations with other variables as the English-language version. The study focused on two additional questions pertaining to the translated scale: To what degree does Identity have a positive correlation with other measures of psychological adjustment? Do groups presumed to be higher in Vocational Identity (more educated persons, persons higher in age) score higher than groups presumed to be lower in vocational identity? Data were collected via the Internet. Measures included Spanish-language versions of four established instruments: My Vocational Situation, Career Decision Self-Efficacy Short Form (CDSE-SF), Hope Scale, and the Neuroticism Scale of Goldberg's International Personality Item Pool. A new experimental scale devised for the present research, Latino Barriers, was also included. Items for each measure were subjected to internal consistency item analyses. Most Spanish language scales were satisfactory based on the item analysis, but one item in the translated Neuroticism scale was deleted. Analysis of the reliability of the measures revealed that the Spanish-language version of the Vocational Identity scale had an alpha of .86 which was comparable to reliability with the English version for high school students (á = .86) and for college students and workers (á = .89) (Holland, Gottfredson, & Power, 1980). Correlations of the translated Vocational Identity scale with other instruments imply that it provides a measure of vocational adjustment with a psychological meaning similar to that of the English language Vocational Identity scale. It appears appropriate to apply the translated instrument in research and practical applications while continuing to study its psychometric properties and practical utility with Spanish speaking persons.Item A session level analysis of the relationship between a group member’s fit with her group and PTSD symptom change in a sample of incarcerated women seeking trauma treatment(2010) Paquin, Jill Denise; Kivlighan, Dennis M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study sought to apply the concept of person-group fit from the domain of organizational psychology to the domain of group psychotherapy. Specifically, using a time-series series design, the current study examined the relationship between an individual group member's fit with her group on two dimensions, perceptions of group climate and in-session intimate behaviors, and whether fit and standing on these dimensions were related to change in PTSD symptoms. An archival data set of 73 incarcerated women participating in six manualized (Trauma Recovery Empowerment Model [TREM], Harris, 1998) therapy groups for the treatment of co-morbid trauma and substance use disorders were analyzed. The relationship between the level of fit on these dimensions and change in PTSD symptoms as documented by participants' pre- and post-test scores on the PTSD Symptom Scale-Self Report (PSS-SR) was assessed. Using a session-level analysis (N = 1,606) and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) (Kenny, Kashy, Manetti, Piero, & Livi, 2002) both individual (Actor) and group (Partner) effects were modeled in order to test hypotheses about the individual, the group, and the fit between actor and partner and PTSD symptom change. Twenty-two of 73 women did not complete treatment. Analyses revealed significant partner effects for group members who completed both pre and posttest PTSD measures (n = 51) and those who did not (n=22). Specifically, members who completed both measures were in groups in which the other members perceived higher levels of engagement and lower levels of conflict. Results indicated that for both the individual and the other group members (partners), perceptions of the level of group engagement increased over time, perceptions of group conflict and avoidance decreased over time, and the average level of intimate behaviors in which group members engaged did not significantly change over time. PTSD symptoms decreased significantly between pre and posttest, however, no significant relationship was observed between fit of a group member and her group and PTSD symptom change. Results, limitations, and alternatives for data conceptualization and future analysis are discussed.