ABSTRACT Introduction The pervasive and derogatory use of homophobic language is a threat to safe, respectful, and inclusive school environments. Group membership has been shown to influence how students use homophobic language. Previous qualitative studies have largely approached the use of this language from the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity. In contrast, the current study actively challenged all assumptions about the use of this language. Method This study was conducted in a public high school located in a rural conservative Christian community in the Intermountain West (USA). Using hermeneutic qualitative methodology to assess individual perceptions of homophobic language, 20 randomly selected 12th-grade male students (17–18 years of age) were individually interviewed. Results Three distinct groups emerged during our interviews: students on the high school debate team, students who strongly identified with a conservative religion, and students on popular athletic teams. Membership in specific peer groups influenced how students participated in or abstained from using homophobic language. Contrary to the prevailing research that pairs religiosity with negatively biased attitudes toward LGBTQIA, in this study, participants’ religious beliefs appeared to be associated with respecting others’ feelings and a decreased likelihood of using homophobic language. Conclusions After summarizing this study’s findings, we conclude with implications for practice. To more effectively deter the use of homophobic language, we encourage school-based interventions that target specific groups of adolescents and consider the social context in which homophobic language occurs.

People navigate life more successfully and find more joy when they are able to regulate emotion in healthy ways. Teaching and helping clients regulate emotion in healthy ways is an important part of many psychotherapy approaches. In this paper, we focus on the emotion of anger from a theistic therapy perspective, arguing that understanding the nature of God’s anger and human anger in the scriptures can inform theistic therapy practice. To establish this understanding, we analyzed cases of the word anger in the scriptures through content analysis (e.g., quantitative) and hermeneutic analysis (e.g., qualitative). Findings revealed that, while God was tied to more expressions of anger, humans were the main recipients of anger. God’s anger was connected to His obligation to enact justice as a consequence to disobedience and unrighteousness. Human anger was often connected to the influence of Satan and revolved around interpersonal conflict. Additionally, we noted that God and His prophets experience anger—that is they do not suppress it, but use it to inform action and do not cultivate, vent, complain, or give place to it. Other references included warnings of future anger or teachings about how humans should express and experience anger. We discuss how these analyses of anger provide insights that the- istic therapists can apply when helping clients process anger in therapy.

Given the increasing number of Chinese international students attending American universities, it is important to consider potential problems arising during their initial transition period, and their experiences acculturating into the American culture and educational system. Thirteen Chinese international students participated in qualitative interviews conducted in participant’s native language, Mandarin Chinese. Data analysis followed the hermeneutic circle. Based on their personal perspectives, participants reported their experiences encountered during their initial transition into the U.S. They described how they made sense of their experiences and how their ways of thinking and behaving changed as a result of being influenced by their experiences interfacing with U.S. culture. Participants also shared their strategies they perceived as helpful in specific situations. Based on an analysis of participants’ interviews, emerging themes included (a) difficulties and challenges they faced as new immigrants, (b) differences they encountered with respect to their homeland and the new environment, including language/communication, culture, academic study and learning, living in the U.S., and psychological adjustments, (c) positive growth they acknowledged from facing challenges and adapting to their new environment, and (d) help they received from a variety of individuals and organizations. Additionally, participants offered suggestions to future Chinese international students, emphasizing the importance of more proactively seeking and receiving assistance. Implications for American universities, including counseling centers, to more actively assist and include Chinese international students are also discussed. An increased understanding of and sensitivity to international students’ challenges will help professionals strengthen outreach services.

Like many Indigenous nations, the Navajo Nation has worked to develop its human and economic potential. It has provided scholarships and other supports to enable its members to pursue post-secondary education. However, relatively few of these college-educated members return to the reservation to contribute directly to its development. This phenomenon has been termed a brain drain. This study explored the experiences of 28 college-educated Navajos who, while raised on the reservation, were living off the reservation after completing their post-secondary education. Participants indicated a number of factors that went into their decision to live off the reservation. These included: Ké’: Relationships/Connections to Family, Culture, Homeland, People; Iiná: Lifestyle/Lifeway, Desirable Setting, Learned Work Ethic, Social Atmosphere, Togetherness (Diné) vs. Individualism (Mainstream); Bee ach’į’ na’hwii’ná: Resources and Roadblocks to Making a Life, Infrastructure, Services, The “System”; Bee ajit’9: Opportunity, Prosperity and Personal Improvement, Education, Extracurricular, Job Availability, Work Experience.

As part of Utah’s state-wide Youth Suicide Prevention Manual, parent handouts offer an invitation to increase parent involvement and home/school collaboration. Information from a variety of resources was synthesized into handouts that schools can provide to parents (see handouts provided in the Appendix). These handouts include information regarding adolescent suicide, warning signs, steps parents can take if suicidal ideation or planning is suspected, and community resources available for parents and adolescents. Developed as part of home/school collaborative suicide prevention efforts, these handouts will be made available in Utah’s Youth Suicide Prevention Manual. School districts are encouraged to consider their schools’ needs and to modify these handouts as needed to fit their community’s and families’ needs.

After their parent’s suicide, children often have difficulty talking openly about suicide. Although research supports bibliotherapy as a strategy to increase understanding and communication about death, no bibliotherapy studies specifically address parental suicide. We gave a focus group of five paraprofessionals 15 children’s picture books addressing grief, parental suicide, and emotional expression. We asked their opinions about which storybooks facilitate children’s communication about death, specifically a parent’s suicide. Paraprofessionals emphasized individualizing treatment to fit the child’s specific circumstances, recommending the books that honestly portray suicide, show a way forward, provide hope, and assure children that they are not alone. Of the provided books, the most highly recommend were Bart Speaks Out: Breaking the Silence on Suicide and After a Suicide Death: A Workbook for Grieving Kids.

On April 20, 1999, two Columbine High School students started a shooting rampage, ultimately killing 12 students and one teacher, wounding 21 victims, then completing suicide. Using media frame analysis (MFA), we examined 265 transcribed major network television news stories aired during the 48 hours following the shooting. In these stories, we investigated the frequency of warning signs of youth violence. Though later disputed, stories included warning signs that fortified the myth of the juvenile superpredator. Television news coverage of school shootings often spotlights perpetrators, fuels false narratives, creates an inflated sense of risk and vulnerability, and fails to place such events in the larger context of youth violence. We urge professionals to contextualize news stories within a broader framework of youth violence; to support fact-based communication between the media, school administrators, and law enforcement; to eliminate the spotlight on perpetrators; and to carefully consider reactionary responses that are not evidence-based nor proven effective.

Special education faculty member (n-12) from a large Western university participated in a four-year professional development program centered on increasing their cultural responsiveness. During the fourth year the primary investigator interviewed faculty members regarding their perceptions and the impact of the program. Each interview was audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using the inductive analysis design for qualitative research (Hatch, 2002). Faculty expressed likes and dislikes of the program and provided suggestions for future professional development. Other results that emerged included that time was a barrier, that leaving campus facilitated learning, and that collaboration enhanced learning. Faculty reported that the professional development made them self-reflect, change practice and attitudes, adjust their perceptions of diverse students, and alter professional interactions. Faculty also expressed personal conflicts as a result of these activities.

American Indian college students often face multiple challenges that might be helped by counseling. However, these students are the least likely to take advantage of counseling services. In order to understand how to improve counseling services for this group, qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 practicing college counselors who have considerable experience working with American Indian students. The themes generated from the analysis include recommendations for both institutions and individual counselors.

Multiple qualitative and quantitative studies have investigated homophobic language and its associated correlates. However, very few studies have approached this phenomenon from an ethnographic methodology. Furthermore, no studies to date have used an ethnography to study this language in a conservative religious community. In this study, the primary researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 randomly selected males, all 12th-grade students attending a rural high school and conducted 102 hours of observations in the high school they attended. Utilizing a phenomenological hermeneutic method, a group of researchers analyzed the interviews and observations. Based on interpretations from this analysis, findings indicated that students used HL to marginalize other students; to both challenge adult authority and emulate admired adults; to get attention and assert authority by using rebellious and taboo language; to explore their sexuality and masculinity; to police sexuality and masculinity within the parameters of religious beliefs and expected roles; and to increase group cohesion. The researchers explored each of these themes and considered how adolescents both shape and are shaped by their within-group culture, their school culture, and their personal beliefs. To conclude, the researchers suggest group-based strategies for a more accepting school culture that decreases adolescents’ use of HL.

This study explored subjective experiences of Native American high school students as they described factors that facilitated or detracted from their efforts to graduate from high school. Interviews with 12 Native American high school juniors and seniors who had grown up on reservations identified five themes related to their persistence in high school: external influences of faculty support, structured social support, and family support, with more internalized themes of motivation to improve and experiences with racism. The results, discussed using an autoethnographic approach, indicated needs for (a) clear academic expectations between the school district and the tribal liaisons, (b) multicultural training to foster positive relationships between teachers and students from primary through secondary school, and (c) structured college preparatory instruction designed for Native American students. Results also indicated a need for further research into the educational experiences of multiethnic students. Study limitations and implications are addressed.

Children who experience a parent’s suicide are vulnerable to an increased risk for mental health disorders and suicide attempts. In this study, 17 adults, each a child survivor of their parent’s suicide, shared their perceptions of support following the suicide. Helpful experiences included opening communication about suicide and offering individualized support. Unhelpful experiences included judgment and blame, silence regarding suicide, and a heightened awareness of the surviving parent’s challenges. Individuals most helpful in meeting the child’s needs included those with pre-existing relationships. In particular, our findings emphasizes the critical need for honest, open, and age-appropriate communication about the parent’s suicide.

We articulate the need for a Counseling Psychology Model Training Values Statement Addressing Diversity (henceforth called ?Values Statement?). We discuss the historic unwillingness of the field to address values in a sophisticated or complex way, and highlight the increasingly common training scenario in which trainees state that certain professional requirements are in conflict with their personal values. We explain that the Values Statement grew out of trainers? expressed need for guidance in dealing with these complex and often emotionally-charged value clashes in training. We explain how the Values Statement can assist training programs to (a) clearly articulate the professions? diversity-related values, (b) connect individual and professional values to societal value structures that either reinforce or challenge systems of oppression; and (c) help students to develop the philosophical sophistication to reconcile their personal values and the professions? values. Overall, we explicate that the Values Statement is needed to assists trainees to comprehend and perform required diversity-related professional behaviors.

Children who experience a parent’s suicide are vulnerable to an increased risk for mental health disorders and suicide attempts. In this study, 17 adults, each a child survivor of their parent’s suicide, shared their perceptions of support following the suicide. Helpful experiences included opening communication about suicide and offering individualized support. Unhelpful experiences included judgment and blame, silence regarding suicide, and a heightened awareness of the surviving parent’s challenges. Individuals most helpful in meeting the child’s needs included those with preexisting relationships. In particular, our findings emphasize the critical need for honest, open, and age-appropriate communication about the parent’s suicide.

Children who experience a parent’s suicide are vulnerable to an increased risk for mental health disorders and suicide attempts. In this study, 17 adults, each a child survivor of their parent’s suicide, shared their perceptions of support following the suicide. Helpful experiences included opening communication about suicide and offering individualized support. Unhelpful experiences included judgment and blame, silence regarding suicide, and a heightened awareness of the surviving parent’s challenges. Individuals most helpful in meeting the child’s needs included those with pre-existing relationships. In particular, our findings emphasizes the critical need for honest, open, and age-appropriate communication about the parent’s suicide.

After their parent’s suicide, children often have difficulty talking openly about suicide. Although research supports bibliotherapy as a strategy to increase understanding and communication about death, no bibliotherapy studies specifically address parental suicide. We gave a focus group of five paraprofessionals 15 children’s picture books addressing grief, parental suicide, and
emotional expression. We asked their opinions about which storybooks facilitate children’s communication about death, specifically a parent’s suicide. Paraprofessionals emphasized individualizing treatment to fit the child’s specific circumstances, recommending the books that honestly portray suicide, show a way forward, provide hope, and assure children that they are not alone. Of the provided books, the most highly recommend were Bart Speaks Out: Breaking the Silence on Suicide and After a Suicide Death: A Workbook for Grieving Kids.

Children often have difficulty talking openly about a parent’s suicide. Bibliotherapy can help, but no bibliotherapy studies address parental suicide. We gave a focus group (5 paraprofessionals) 15 children’s books addressing grief, parental suicide, and emotional expression, asking them which books were most helpful. They emphasized individualizing treatment to fit the child, recommending the books that honestly portrayed suicide, showed a way forward, provided hope, and assured children that they are not alone. The most highly recommend books were Bart Speaks Out: Breaking the Silence on Suicide and After a Suicide Death: A Workbook for Grieving Kids.