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
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.
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.
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.
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 →
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 →
For research findings to inform clinical practice and create systemic change, they must be accessible to practitioners and community members. Peer reviewed journal articles are limited in terms of accessibility and counseling researchers must consider diverse methods of knowledge dissemination for clinical practice to be informed by rigorous research. In this session, presenters will discuss varied ways to disseminate research including grant-funded professional development opportunities.
Counselors emphasize individualized treatment for diverse clients, but interventions are often guided by studies that assess average treatment effects. Causal machine learning provides a rigorous way to estimate who benefits most (or may be harmed) from specific interventions using clinical trial data, offering data-driven insights to achieve better individual outcomes. This session discusses the use of causal machine learning to support more precise, ethical, and client-centered practice.
Ableism remains underexamined in counselor education, often reduced to accommodation compliance over systemic change. This session shares results from a mixed methods study on counselor educators' understanding of ableism. While more training predicted higher confidence, confidence was not related to lower ableism. Qualitative themes revealed knowledge gaps and a pervasive accommodation focus. Attendees will gain concrete strategies for moving toward intentional, disability-affirming practices.
This session discusses multi-group interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as a method for transnational counseling research. Extending traditional IPA, multi-group IPA uses different subsamples to explore shared and group-specific experiential themes, making it well-suited for research that focuses on counseling practice across national contexts. The session presents key procedures of multi-group IPA and uses a study of Chinese counselors across countries to illustrate its application.
Missing data can introduce bias and error, threatening the accurate interpretation of test scores. The presenter will review the threats of missing data to the accuracy of parameters and standards errors as well as strategies for appropriate handling it. Expressly, the presenter will discuss the importance of assessing the missingness mechanism and level of missing to accurately select the appropriate deletion or imputation procedure.
This session explores how artificial intelligence can be ethically and effectively integrated into counseling research. Attendees will examine practical applications of AI across qualitative and quantitative methods, including Q methodology, narrative inquiry, and survey design. Emphasis will be placed on preserving researcher reflexivity, trustworthiness & rigor, minimizing bias, and using AI as a tool to enhance human interpretation and meaning-making.
Artificial intelligence tools are rapidly entering counseling education and practice, yet many programs lack guidance for addressing them ethically. This session introduces a practical framework for developing AI literacy grounded in counseling ethics and professional identity. Participants will explore key AI concepts and strategies for critically evaluating AI-generated information used in research, assessment, and professional practice.
