College Student Binge Drinking: Implications for a Constructivist Approach to College Counseling

This study examined relationships between college students' alcohol consumption and epistemological development. Results indicate students who are frequent binge drinkers have not developed a value system that transcends the influences of peers. On the basis of these findings, a constructivist approach to counseling students with problems related to high‐risk drinking is discussed.     

Constructivist Assessment in Career Counseling

A constructivist approach to assessment in career counseling presents an opportunity for counselors to gain insight into clients' stories, amplify clients' self-awareness, and develop with clients a future orientation through action steps. The author presents four strategies for constructivist assessment using The Storied Approach (Brott, 2001) as the framework for the counseling process. The four constructivist assessment strategies include the life line, card sorts, life roles circles, and the goal map.     

Walking the Labyrinth: An Innovative Approach to Counseling Center Outreach

This article introduces the use of the labyrinth as one systemic approach counseling centers can use when conducting outreach targeting the college community. The author discusses the labyrinth's history and its recent resurgence in professional settings, summarizes the principles of walking the labyrinth, illustrates its introduction on one university campus, and outlines practical considerations for incorporating the labyrinth in college counseling center outreach efforts.     

Teaching a Constructivist Approach to Clinical Practice

Constructivism and social constructionism provide the philosophical underpinning of an approach to practice teaching that emphasizes the ways knowledge derives from individually and socially constructed experience. Constructivist practices such as generating multiple ideas through questioning or collaborating with clients in the co-construction of meaning and the creation of alternative narratives are taught through an experiental format. The exercises presented provide students with firsthand experiences of seeing how they shape their own learning. While the conceptual challenges inherent in teaching from this position are many, a constructivist approach is ideally suited to practice in a multicultural society.     

Integrating Mindfulness Meditation Within a University Counseling Center Setting

Abstract

This paper documents the development of a mindfulness meditation component within a University Counseling Center setting. The specific focus is upon the inclusion of meditation as it pertains to both organizational structure and psychotherapy training. The integration of a meditation practice into any organization is a slow process that poses complex questions. We argue that the benefits provide a counterpoint to the complexities inherent when incorporating such training into an organization's structure and a psychology internship program.     

Yoga for Stress Management Program as a Complementary Alternative Counseling Resource in a University Counseling Center

A Yoga for Stress Management Program (YSMP) that served as a complementary alternative therapy resource was successfully implemented at a midsize, predominantly undergraduate university. It was offered in addition to traditional treatments for student mental health. Counselors, Residence Life staff, and faculty found that the program was useful for their students/clients, who reported many benefits from participation. Participants in this YSMP included students and faculty/staff. Logistics of setting up a YSMP are outlined.     

The Use of Family Therapy Within a University Counseling Center

As a counterpoint to the oftentimes adversarial way that parents are viewed when they appear to be overinvolved in the lives of their college-aged students, this article advocates for the use of a family therapy perspective in university counseling centers. Benefits of this perspective include a broadening of the lens through which individual concerns are seen and a more nuanced social justice analysis in which issues of gender, race, and class are highlighted. A review of family therapy literature is intertwined with discussion regarding the relevance of this perspective when working with college students. Vignettes illustrate various applications of college-based family psychotherapy.     

University Counseling Center Clients' Expressed Preferences for Counselors

ABSTRACT

This archival study explored patterns of client preferences from a randomized sample of 881 clients at a Midwestern university counseling center. Information from client intake forms was collected for a four year time frame. Results showed that 61% of the clients did not express preferences for particular types of counselors when asked on intake forms. Thirty-nine percent of the clients did express a preference for a particular type of counselor. Chi-square analyses found that clients with preferences tended to have prior therapy experience and tended to prefer counselor gender over other traits. Women and people of color tended to be the most likely to express counselor preferences. It is suggested that future research clarify the meaning behind preferences, the lack of preferences, and clients' expectations for counseling.     

Using Computer Assisted Instruction to Compare the Inventive Model and the Radical Constructivist Approach to Teaching Physics

This paper introduces a new way of evaluating instructional strategies by using computers. Two basic theories, instructivism and constructivism, are discussed and critically evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in conceptual learning. Despite the current popularity of constructivism, the radical form of it is criticized in this paper. The advantages and limitations of these two approaches, especially the radical forms of constructivism, are outlined. After borrowing some ideas from other effective conceptual change models, an integrative model for conceptual learning (the Inventive Model) is introduced. Two versions of multimedia physics software are developed by the authors. The first version is based on the Inventive Model and the second version based on a radical constructivist model. The effectiveness of the Inventive Model was compared with the radical constructivist approach and conventional science instruction. Students' log files were analyzed to investigate the nature and the processes of the conceptual change. A conceptual test and a knowledge test were used to compare the groups. The quantitative results showed the superiority of the Inventive Model over the other models in conceptual learning and the superiority of conventional instruction in learning the basic knowledge. The qualitative analysis showed that only the Inventive Model lead to coherent conceptual learning. It was concluded that the process of conceptual change is gradual and continuous. Analysis of students' log files revealed no moments of dramatic change in students' conceptions.     

Using a Conceptual-Change Approach to Help Preservice Science Teachers Reorganize Their Knowledge Structures for Constructivist Teaching

This study, based on constructivist learning theory, examined how effectively preservice chemistry teachers (N = 43) can be educated to think flexibly and to reorganize their thinking in a way that may complement diverse ways students approach the subject domain. The teacher's cognitive structure was assessed prior to and after a conceptual change intervention using flow-map narrative analyses. There was a significant change in the organization of the preservice teacher's narrative after the conceptual change intervention, including greater networking of ideas and more thematic development of the content. Hence, a conceptual change approach may be a useful way to educate teachers to be more responsive to student individual differences when planning and delivering science lessons.     

Taking a Universal Approach to Multicultural Counseling

This article takes a universal approach to multicultural counseling by exploring the commonalities of the “minority” experience and proposing transcultural models for multicultural counseling training.     

Intake Screening With the Self‐Rating Depression Scale in a University Counseling Center

Screening clients at intake for symptoms of depression can be beneficial provided the instrument used is reliable and valid. The psychometric properties of the Self‐Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were examined using an ethnically diverse sample of 324 counseling center clients. Results provided moderate support for the SDS. Differences across demographic groups and considerations for intake screening are discussed.     

A Case Study: An ACT Stress Management Group in a University Counseling Center

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) stress management group in a college counseling center setting. This study explored (a) the effectiveness of ACT in increasing participants’ ability to tolerate distress, which directly affects their ability to function in a stressful college setting; (b) the effectiveness of ACT in decreasing participants’ level of experiential avoidance, which directly affects their willingness to engage in their day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and social interactions; and (c) the impact of ACT treatment on anxiety symptoms traditionally targeted in cognitive-behavioral therapy interventions. The results of this initial investigation show promising support for the prediction that an ACT Stress Management Group would significantly reduce participants’ level of experiential avoidance and increase their ability to tolerate distress.     

Research: Evaluating Therapy Outcome at a University Counseling Center With the College Adjustment Scales

To assess the effectiveness of time-limited therapy in a university counseling center, 333 clients' precounseling and post-sixth-session College Adjustment Scales (CAS; Anton & Reed, 1991) scores were compared. Statistically significant decreases in reported symptomatology were found on all CAS scales. Notably distressed students reported moderate to large decreases in symptomatology.     

A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Permutations and Combinations

A lesson is described where students construct their own knowledge of permutations and combinations by exploring a problem situation. This helps students gain an appreciation of real-world implications of these topics while developing a strong conceptual understanding of them.     

Trainees Versus Staff: Exploring Counseling Outcomes in a College Counseling Center

Investigators compared counseling outcomes among nonpaid graduate-level trainees and professional staff at a college counseling center. Counseling outcomes for 331 college student participants were measured using the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ45.2), employing a pretest–posttest design. The two groups of service providers did not differ significantly (p = .179; α > .05). A unique aspect of this study was the statistical control for the clients’ readiness to change. The implications for practice in college counseling centers suggest the use of graduate-level trainees as effective counseling providers and a method to cope with high demand for services.     

Applying a Social Justice Framework to College Counseling Center Practice

Counselors are often challenged to address issues of social justice in the counseling context, and they must be deliberate and innovative in their attempts to respond. Counselors will be required to relate social justice considerations to their practices and to the theoretical foundations of these practices; they must then operationalize an approach that suits their particular practice setting. The authors present the early results of their attempt to meet this challenge.