College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item ASIAN-AMERICAN IMMIGRANT PARENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT HELPFUL STRATEGIES FOR ADDRESSING ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS(2018) Frese, Kristen Marie; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present exploratory, mixed-methods study explores Asian-American immigrant parents’ beliefs about helpful strategies for addressing youth mental illness (i.e., depression and eating disorders). Nineteen Asian-American immigrant parents (M=46.1 years, SD=3.9) completed closed-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews. Frequency counts were collected from the surveys on parents’ attitudes toward mental health services, products, and providers for the prevention and intervention of adolescent mental illnesses. The interviews were coded for themes using thematic analysis in order to explore parents’ beliefs about helpful strategies for addressing youth mental illness. Five primary strategies for addressing youth mental health concerns emerged: Providing social support; providing strategies to improve mental health; teaching adolescents about mental health; seeking help from professionals; and identifying the cause or diagnosing the problem. The roles that the school and culture play in each of those strategies is discussed. Implications are given for school-based mental health providers.Item STUDENT RESILIENCY: A MIXED METHODS ANALYSIS OF COUNSELING GROUP EFFECTS.(2015) Pickering, Cyril Emmanuel; Strein, William; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Student resiliency, or the internal resources that an individual possesses that enables success despite adversity, is a variable of interest, particularly for students who are at-risk for negative outcomes in school. This study examined the group counseling efforts of an alternative high school, looking at how group composition influenced the growth in scores on the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents, a measure of student resiliency that students were given at the beginning and end of the year. In addition to this quantitative analysis, students who participated in the groups and counselors who facilitated the groups were interviewed regarding the effectiveness and challenges of the groups, as well as how the groups impacted Sense of Mastery, Sense of Relatedness and Emotional Reactivity, the three areas of resiliency that were being measured. Each interviewee provided feedback regarding ways that the groups could help students grow in resilience. Results from the quantitative analysis indicated the aggregated starting resiliency scores of the other group members had no impact on a student’s growth in any of the resiliency scales. A second analysis revealed some correlations between group growth in resiliency and a student’s growth in resiliency, seemingly indicating that as the group improves in certain measures, individual growth is hindered. Results from the qualitative analysis revealed overall positive impressions of the group counseling experience and statements about how the groups helped improve resiliency. Several common themes among students and counselors emerged regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the group counseling approach. Implications for implementation and evaluation of group counseling are discussed.Item Informant Discrepancies: Understanding Differences in Parent and Teacher Ratings of Children's Executive Functions and Social Skills(2015) Albrecht, Jessica; Teglasi, Hedy; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Researchers and practitioners in the field of psychology frequently use parent and teacher rating scales in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of young children. However, research has shown that agreement between parents and teachers on rating scales is low to moderate. The present study examined this phenomenon, termed "informant discrepancy", for the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF) and the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). Parents and teachers completed these scales for the same sample of 73 Kindergarten children. Results indicated that parent-teacher agreement was low at the scale and item levels, within-informant correlations were higher than between-informant correlations, mean differences in parent and teacher ratings may be explained by differences in the home and school contexts, and informants identified different children as having significant problems with executive functions and social skills. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.Item An Investigation of High School Counseling Programs as a Reflection of a College-Going Culture(2012) Park, Denise; Lee, Courtland C; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to investigate high school counseling programs as a reflection of a college-going culture. A qualitative thematic analysis is used to examine four school counseling programs at high schools in a school district located along the Eastern seaboard of the United States. In order to increase the likelihood of identifying aspects of school counseling programs that are successful in reflecting a college-going culture, only high schools with high college-going percentage rates were selected for this study. College-going culture theory, including the nine college-going culture principles, as proposed by McClafferty, McDonough, and Nunez (2002) is used as a framework for this study. The college-going culture principles operate as themes to help categorize school counselor activities and measure whether the school counseling programs reflect a college-going culture in the schools. A methodological triangulation is employed to identify planned college-going activities within three information sources from each school: school counselors' management plans, school counseling websites, and the school counseling departments' calendars. Results suggest that collectively, the four selected schools plan college-going activities that are consistent with all nine college-going culture principles, thus suggesting that there is a college-going culture that is strongly supported and reflected by the school counseling departments in these schools. Suggestions, based on these findings, for how other schools might improve their college-going culture are included. Implications for promoting cultural reform to support college access and success for all students are also discussed.Item DEFINING AND ASSESSING PARENT EMPOWERMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT USING THE NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION SURVEY: A FOCUS ON MARGINALIZED PARENTS(2012) Kim, Jungnam; Bryan, Julia; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Marginalized parents experience multiple and complex challenges in terms of social isolation, exclusion, and powerlessness. This empirical study investigated the effects of parent empowerment on academic outcomes using a large national representative sample and should provide insights about the importance of parent empowerment in education and counseling. Further, the study investigated the effect of the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, home language and income on parent empowerment. This first attempt at analyzing intersectionality in the context of parent empowerment may provide some guidance for future researchers in addressing the complex nature of intersecting identities. This study was a correlational study that used data from the Parent and Family Involvement Survey of the National Household Education Surveys (PFI-NHES: 2007) to investigate the relationship between parent empowerment and academic achievement as measured by parents' reports of students' grade point average(GPA). Using multiple linear regression and logistic regression, the findings of the current study demonstrated that some aspects of parent empowerment were related to children's academic achievement, namely, parents' competence, self-determination, community belonging, and community participation. Interestingly, parents' sense of meaning and consciousness were not related to children's academic achievement. Moreover, intersections of race/ethnicity, home language and income were also related to parent empowerment. The results are significant in that they provide empirical information for school counselors, teachers, administrators and counselors for working with parents. Furthermore, these data may begin to provide support for the conceptual framework of parent empowerment provided this study in order to guide future research and practice.Item Relationship Between School Counselor Multicultural Counseling Competence and Self-Efficacy in Working with Recent Immigrant Students(2012) Na, GoEun; Lee, Courtland C; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to examine how school counselors' multicultural counseling competence is related to their self-efficacy in working with recent immigrant students. This study investigated the demographic variables of school counselors, as well as three multicultural counseling competencies (multicultural terminology, multicultural knowledge, and multicultural awareness). A random sample of American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members received an online questionnaire via email, and a total of 381 professional school counselors participated in the study. The questionnaire combined the Multicultural Counseling and Training Survey-Revised (MCCTS-R), the School Counselor Self-Efficacy Scale (SCSE) and demographic questionnaires. To assess the relationships between demographic variables, three multicultural counseling competencies, and five dimensions of self-efficacy the researcher conducted a series of descriptive analyses and a two-step hierarchical multiple regression. The results of the study suggested that training experiences in a graduate program, school urbanicity, and age were related to the counselors' perceived level of self-efficacy. Years of experience as a school counselor and race/ethnicity also were related to school counselors' self-efficacy, after controlling multicultural counseling competency variables. The study suggests that multicultural knowledge and multicultural awareness were related significantly to school counselors' self-efficacy when working with recent immigrant students.Item Factors Related to College Going Self-efficacy among Urban African American High School Students(2012) McKechnie, Jessica Diaz; Lee, Courtland C; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the relationship between college-going self-efficacy and high school students' perceived levels of achievement goal orientations (mastery-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoidance), vocational identity, need for occupational information, and barriers to occupational goals for a sample of African American urban high school students (N = 200). Furthermore, this study examined the extent to which those factors helped predict scores on the College-Going Self-Efficacy Scale. Findings revealed positive relationships between mastery-approach, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goal orientation, as well as vocational identity across all subscales of the College-Going Self-Efficacy Scale. Results showed little to no relationship between occupational information, the barriers scale and college-going self-efficacy scores. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore the predictability of the achievement goal orientation and career related factors on college-going self-efficacy. Results indicated that goal orientation would be consistently statistically significant across all phases of the college going process reflected in their self-efficacy scores and vocational identity was a significant predictor during the first phase and the final phase of the college going process.Item AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS' EFFORTS TO SERVE STUDENTS WHO ARE HOMELESS: THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED KNOWLEDGE, PREPARATION, ADVOCACY ROLE, AND SELF-EFFICACY TO THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN RECOMMENDED INTERVENTIONS AND PARTNERSHIP PRACTICES(2012) Gaenzle, Stacey Anita; Bryan, Julia A; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With the array of challenges faced by children and youth who are homeless, approaches to support their needs must be systemic and involve partnerships with all key stakeholders. This study examined school counselors' involvement in partnership practices and interventions to meet the needs of students who are homeless. Further, this study explored relationships between school counselors' preparation to work with students who are homeless, their perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and their involvement in partnership practices and interventions to work with students who are homeless. An online questionnaire, which was a combination of the School Counselor Involvement in Partnerships Survey (SCIPS) and the revised Knowledge and Skills with Homeless Students Survey (KSHSS) was emailed to a random sample of American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members. Further, descriptive statistics and regression analyses were run to determine relationships between variables. The results of the study suggested that school counselors are involved in practices to support students who are homeless that are more individual and school-based. They are involved less in practices that require collaboration and partnerships. The results of this research also suggest that there are relationships between school counselors' perceptions of their specific knowledge of homelessness, self-efficacy, and advocacy role and their involvement in interventions and partnership practices to support students who homeless.Item AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRACTICING URBAN SCHOOL COUNSELORS' COLORBLIND RACIAL IDEOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FACTORS SUCH AS SUPPORTS, BARRIERS, SELF-EFFICACY AND OUTCOME EXPECTATIONS, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE INTEREST AND COMMITMENT(2012) Gonzalez, Ileana; Bryan, Julia; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Groups of American students are learning at alarmingly different rates. This disparity in education is seen disproportionately in schools in urban areas, where students of color and low income students are concentrated in highly segregated areas. In urban areas, the effects of poverty, racism, and isolation are compounded by stressful environments that make learning difficult for students as is evidenced by the various educational gaps. The inadequate and under-resourced education provided for children in urban schools results in a dramatic loss of human potential and economic loss to the nation's economy. Professional school counselors, who work in the urban context, are in a unique position to remove systemic barriers and create equitable opportunities for learning for these students. School counselors need multicultural counseling competence in order to provide appropriate services to these diverse urban student populations; however, multicultural awareness, knowledge and skills are not enough if counselors are to create systemic change. School counselors must work as social justice advocates in order to tackle the pervasive systemic barriers that plague urban students. Through increased social justice self-efficacy, positive social justice outcome expectations, and social justice supports, and minimal barriers to social justice, school counselors may become more interested in and committed to social justice advocacy. The study examines the relationships between colorblind racial ideology, social justice factors, namely social justice self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and social justice supports and barriers, and the social justice interest and commitment of practicing urban school counselors.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.