To address the need for tools assessing learning environments in counselor education, this session presents empirical findings from the development study of the Multicultural Social Justice-Oriented Learning Environment Scale. It also provides a comprehensive overview of each step in theory-driven scale development and validation. The session will also report evidence for content, structural, convergent, and predictive validities to demonstrate how to apply and interpret psychometric data.
Collaborative research among faculty and students continues to expand in academic settings, (Swank et al., 2020). Despite ethical guidelines, ambiguity persists in authorship determination, reflecting power differentials and inclusion concerns (Swank et al., 2019, 2020; Smith & Williams-Jones, 2012). Participants will examine current practices, analyze equity considerations, and develop a responsive, equity-informed framework with practical strategies for ethical decision-making in authorship.
This session presents development and validation of the Counseling Self-Efficacy Sources Scale (CSESS), a 25-item instrument assessing Bandura's four self-efficacy sources in counselor training. Findings from 271 counseling students demonstrate strong psychometric properties. The session also offers practical guidance on using CSESS profiles to inform teaching, supervision, and curriculum design. Attendees gain tools to assess and cultivate self-efficacy in counseling students.
Fairness is a core component of validity, yet it is often underexamined or treated as an optional analytic step in counseling research. This session reframes fairness as an ongoing interpretive responsibility of the researcher that occurs across the research process. Attendees will learn practical strategies to integrate fairness into study design, measurement, analysis, and reporting to support valid interpretations and ethical score use.
Building on the results from the pilot study, we further investigated the effect of training in Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care (IBH) and evidence-based practices (EBPs) across the lifespan on eight cohorts of graduate-level counseling students. We developed and offered our training as a summer program. More than 100 participants were trained in the IBH and EBPs, and we utilized a single-group repeated measures design with multiple cohorts to evaluate the effect
Counseling researchers engage with schools and communities developing and evaluating effective, quality, and valuable programs. Interest holders face increasing pressure to ensure programs are accountable to proposed client outcomes. In this session, we review quantitative and qualitative research designs for formative, process, and summative evaluation plans, highlighting rigor amongst the complexities of data collection and analysis when conducting evaluations in schools and communities.
This session presents quantitative findings examining multicultural counseling self-efficacy and mental illness stigma among counseling students, with multicultural training climate as a moderator. Results highlight how training environments influence measurable student outcomes. Attendees will gain strategies for assessing training climate and evaluating its impact on multicultural competence and stigma reduction.
This session introduces collaborative autoethnography (CAE) as a social justice research methodology and demonstrates its application through a study examining East Asian women international doctoral students’ academic job search experiences. Attendees will learn CAE procedures, trustworthiness strategies, and its strengths for centering marginalized voices. Five themes reveal intersecting systemic barriers. Implications for equitable hiring practices in counselor education will be discussed.
This session presents cutting-edge findings on therapist-client affect dynamics. We compare automated sentiment analysis (LIWC, XLM-T) to human coding (SPAFF), demonstrating how automated tools serve as scalable markers of therapeutic alliance. Furthermore, we reveal that psychotherapy is organized by interaction regimes—distinct modes like strain or stabilization—rather than fixed rules. Attendees will learn to identify these nonstationary shifts and the dyadic nature of emotional coregulation.
Professional mentoring may support school counselors’ well-being and career sustainability, yet empirical research examining how counselors engage in mentoring relationships remains limited. This session presents findings from a national study investigating mentoring engagement and its associations with work engagement, psychological safety, and burnout among practicing school counselors, clarifying mentoring’s distinct role as a professional support within school counseling.
The aim of this presentation is to build researchers’ confidence and competence in managing or participating in large research teams. Presenters will shaThis session introduces collaborative autoethnography (CAE) as a social justice research methodology and demonstrates its application through a study examining East Asian women international doctoral students’ academic job search experiences. Attendees will learn CAE procedures, trustworthiness strategies, and its strengths for centering marginalized voices. Five themes reveal intersecting systemic barriers. Implications for equitable hiring practices in counselor education will be discussed.re perspectives as project leads, faculty mentors, and student coders in a content analysis project. Topics include team structure, collaboration, mentorship, strengths, challenges, and lessons learned, offering strategies to enhance teamwork and avoid common research pitfalls.
This session centers the enduring value of conceptual thinking and writing as foundations of scholarly identity and knowledge creation. As generative AI tools increasingly mediate the research process, scholars face new challenges in teaching and modeling deep, original scholarship. Attendees will learn the benefits and limitations of AI driven citation network mapping tools in both teaching and scholarly applications.
Research can be a powerful form of advocacy by using empirical inquiry to expose injustice and inequity. Both quantitative and qualitative research studies can influence systemic change and advocate for marginalized populations. In this session, attendees will learn how to conceptualize research as a means of advocacy grounded in the AARC Standards for Multicultural Research and MSJCC. Examples of research projects that serve to facilitate systemic change will be presented.
Meet AARC's journal editors for the Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development and Counseling Outocome Research and Evaluation. Learn the aims of each journal. Review the author submission expectations and guidelines. If you've ever asked, what does it takes to get published in MECD and CORE, come find out and questions of the editors!
Counseling researchers often examine correlated predictors such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance misuse when studying clinical outcomes. Hierarchical regression may obscure relative importance when constructs overlap. This session introduces dominance analysis, a method that clarifies predictor importance across regression models. Participants will learn how dominance analysis improves interpretation of counseling assessment data and informs research and clinical decision-making.
Systematic reviews are central to advancing rigorous counseling scholarship, yet relying on library database searches alone can often result in missing relevant studies. This session introduces a multi-faceted approach to article collection, including advanced database strategies and complementary methods (e.g., handsearching, AI tools, and expert review). Attendees will gain practical strategies to improve completeness, transparency, and methodological rigor in systematic review research.
Explore how the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) and Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (ECIT) can strengthen qualitative research in education and counseling. This session highlights key differences, credibility strategies, and practical applications through case examples, helping participants determine when and how to use each method in their own research.
Braun and Clarke’s 2006 article, Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology, seems to have catapulted the use of this method in published research. While the flexibility of the method is likely part of the attraction, the ambiguity of the actual process also can present challenges. It is important for counseling researchers to become familiar with reflexive thematic analysis phases as a way to adhere to rigor, and in turn, conduct quality research that promotes the profession.
Emerging scholarship suggests social media can serve as a naturalistic dataset capturing dimensions of human experiences that assessments, surveys, and interviews may exclude. Drawing on research from online communities, this session questions what can count as data for publication in counseling. Attendees will be able to critically evaluate digital data sources and apply them across counseling research contexts, while also comparing whether the nature of this data applies to their own research.
This session explores strategies and considerations for teaching and supporting counselor education doctoral students to transition from research consumers to independent researchers. Grounded in scholarly frameworks, the presenters will share insights and examples from teaching doctoral research courses and mentoring doctoral student researchers. Participants will engage in collaborative discussions and leave with implications to enhance their own doctoral-level research instruction.
Join us for a critical examination of what counseling intervention research has – and has not – studied through a PRISMA scoping review of 390 professional counseling intervention articles (2015-2024). We map populations and concerns targeted and neglected; modalities, settings, and specialty areas emphasized; research questions posed; and designs used. Together, we will interrogate strengths, limitations, alignment with counseling foundations, and priorities for research that informs practice.
Professor & Department Head, University of Tennessee
Casey Barrio Minton is Professor and Head of the Department of Counseling, Human Development, and Family Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Spirituality is a critical yet under-assessed dimension of client identity, and counselor education lacks consistent approaches for preparing counselors-in-training (CITs) to assess it with cultural responsiveness. This session examines limitations in current assessment practices, identifies training gaps, and offers a structured, ethically grounded approach for integrating spiritually responsive assessment into counselor education and clinical practice.
Many mental health interventions are developed and implemented without assessing whether communities are ready to adopt and sustain them. This session demonstrates how the Community Readiness Assessment (CRA), a stage-based model, aligns culturally responsive mental health strategies with a community’s readiness level. Interviews with 26 Asian leaders across 11 Wisconsin regions, scored across five CRA domains, identified distinct readiness stages with implications for mental health planning.
Counselor education emphasizes social justice advocacy, yet programs lack clear assessment tools to evaluate how students and educators engage in advocacy discourse. This session introduces a Reflexive Social Justice Feedback Loop as an assessment-informed framework for measuring intentional, culturally responsive advocacy development. Attendees will gain research and assessment strategies aligned with MSJCC and counselor training outcomes.
This education session examines strategies for fostering interprofessional collaborative scholarship to support integrated care workforce development. Drawing on lessons from HRSA Behavioral Health Workforce grants (PITCH & PEP), presenters will share research-informed frameworks for conceptualizing, implementing, and disseminating team-based scholarship that advances integrated care education and strengthens professional collaboration.
Students engaging in internship report an increase efficacy in assessment skills and implementing crisis intervention (Fields et al., 2023). This study (a) explores emerging themes of students’ experiences one-year post-graduation following their enrollment in a trauma-informed professional pipeline, (b) identifies key challenges and opportunities experienced when working with CAYs who have experienced trauma, and (c) delineates areas for future research and implications for counselor educators.
Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Jennifer D. Deaton, PhD, LCMHC (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Development at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
This session presents findings from a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with nine counselor educators recognized as AI experts. We explore how educators navigate tensions between cognitive development and accessibility, address clinical readiness concerns, and implement intentional pedagogical strategies. Participants will learn evidence-based approaches to integrating AI into curriculum, supporting students, and developing institutional guidelines.
Experimental analogue design has been used increasingly in fields that involve working with vulnerable topics and populations, allowing for “real-world” simulations while taking precaution to avoid foreseeable harm to participants (Cook & Rumrill, 2005). This presentation will cover the design, the benefits and drawbacks, and the overall relevance to the counseling field. Through content lecture and activity, participants will leave with concrete knowledge to apply to future research studies.
Suicide remains a significant concern for middle and high school youth, placing school‑based counselors in critical frontline roles. However, training in evidence‑based suicide prevention is inconsistent, and systematic outcome tracking is rare. This methods‑focused session presents implementation‑science–informed strategies for monitoring intervention effectiveness, fidelity, and follow‑up using a scalable digital outcome‑tracking tool.
Research challenges the harmful misconception that Black, Latinx, low-income, and limited English-speaking families do not value education or client success, a narrative that sustains systemic barriers to engagement in counseling contexts. This session examines how assessment data informed culturally responsive, client and family-centered workshops. Using pre/post surveys, outcome indicators, and focus groups, findings demonstrate how data-driven interventions strengthen engagement.
This session applies Boyer’s Four Functions of Scholarship—discovery, integration, application, and teaching—to counseling and counselor education. Presenters invite attendees to consider broader, more inclusive understandings of scholarly work and to explore ways counseling programs can recognize and reward diverse forms of knowledge production. Strategies for successfully promoting one’s integrative, applied, or pedagogical scholarly pursuits will be shared.
This presentation examines transcendental phenomenology as a rigorous qualitative methodology in counselor education. Drawing on Husserl and Moustakas, it clarifies distinctions between transcendental and hermeneutic approaches and outlines core analytic procedures (e.g., horizontalization, reduction, synthesis). Participants will learn strategies to enhance rigor and trustworthiness and apply these methods in counselor education and supervision contexts.
Clinicians hold valuable practice-based knowledge that is often absent from scholarly literature. This interactive session, led by the editorial team of the Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness, helps counselors transform clinical expertise into publishable manuscripts. Participants will learn how to identify strong topics, navigate peer review, overcome common barriers, and leave with a concrete action plan for moving from idea to submission.
This session explores how Practice-Based Research and Participatory Action Research build a data-to-action pipeline to address systemic inequities and bridge research and counseling practice. Using school counselor training examples, we share outcomes (e.g., fewer discipline referrals, higher student belonging), co-designed interventions, and tools that turn data into sustainable, equity-focused change. Implications for adapting this model across counselor preparation context will be discussed.
The presenter is an Associate Professor at Clemson University. She is a licensed professional counselor, certified school counselor, and nationally certified counselor. She has been involved in AARC since 2013, including being a past emerging leader, and is currently the Treasurer... Read More →
Amanda Giordano, PhD, LPC is an associate professor of counseling at the University of Georgia. Dr. Giordano works to advance the counseling field with rigorous research and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. As a counselor educator, Dr. Giordano regularly... Read More →
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) positions researcher subjectivity as central to meaning-making, creating tension around rigor and transparency. This session examines how analysis can become a “black box” and provides practical strategies, including reflexivity and audit trails, to enhance transparency and strengthen credibility in IPA research.
Psychopathology arises from neurocognitive processes, yet most instruments used in counseling focus only on symptoms. This presentation demonstrates tasks (e.g., Stroop, Wisconsin Card Sort, n-back, RTID) to measure mechanisms like working memory, executive function, and emotional states. With access to pre-conscious states, lessened self-report biases, and sensitivity to earlier change, participants will learn how to enhance assessment batteries and the empirical rationale for doing so.
Research mentorship is a cornerstone of counseling graduate education, supported by best practices. Yet at some point, both educators and students must shift from a traditional mentorship model to a true research partnership and the skills required for effective collaboration are rarely taught explicitly. This session explores strategies for strengthening research mentorship with the goal of developing confident, capable, and collaborative research partners in the counseling profession.
Elizabeth A. Prosek (she/her/hers), PhD, LPC, NCC, is a Professor of Education and Professor-in-Charge of Counselor Education at Penn State University. Her research interests include counseling military populations; community engagement and program evaluation; co-occurring presenting... Read More →
This presentation introduces the AI-III workshop model, a structured framework for integrating generative AI in counselor education. A mixed-methods program evaluation examined its quality and effectiveness. Preliminary findings support an ethically grounded and sustainable approach to AI integration in counselor training. Participants will gain practical, evidence-informed strategies for responsible AI implementation across roles as learners, practitioners, supervisors, and educators.
Students’ mentorship experiences are pivotal in developing research competence and efficacy. Yet, much of the current research focuses on doctoral students, ignoring opportunities to support trainees across the academic lifespan. Our educational session presents a multitiered model of student research mentorship to provide targeted engagement activities and meaningful scaffolding. This model helps students develop research confidence while supporting sustainability within counselor education.
Counselors are expected to develop diagnostic clinical reasoning skills that are culturally responsive, evidence-based, and ethically sound, yet counseling research continues to highlight gaps in how diagnostic competence is assessed. This session introduces a diagnostic decision-making model grounded in clinical reasoning, self-efficacy, and cultural humility. In addition, the federally funded program evaluation plan will be discussed, along with practice for experiential components.
Many counseling researchers are skilled in instrument development and psychometric testing, but the scoring procedures for these instruments are often basic or undetermined. It is necessary for researchers to be familiar with and able to determine rigorous scoring procedures for the instruments they develop. The purpose of this presentation is to describe four methodologies that the presenters tested to create the scoring procedures for their original tool: the Community Readiness Instrument.
Amanda Giordano, PhD, LPC is an associate professor of counseling at the University of Georgia. Dr. Giordano works to advance the counseling field with rigorous research and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. As a counselor educator, Dr. Giordano regularly... Read More →
This session explores AI as a counselor-support tool for deploying, scoring, interpreting, and using assessment data in clinical care. Participants will examine how AI can synthesize structured, text, audio, video, and longitudinal data to identify patterns, support report drafting, and inform treatment planning while preserving counselor oversight, ethical safeguards, privacy, and culturally responsive interpretation.
This session introduces semantic network analysis as a method for examining narratives in counseling research and training. Participants will explore foundational concepts, learn basic analytic steps, and examine examples using narrative and textual data. Illustrative examples will demonstrate the application of semantic network analysis to counseling research and practice.
Despite demands for specialized skills in community crisis settings, counselor training remains inconsistent. This education session presents a stakeholder-informed concept mapping methodology to systematically identify and assess essential crisis competencies. Attendees will explore this research design, learn to develop a focus prompt, and examine how to translate stakeholder data into measurable outcomes for counselor education curricula and clinical supervision.
