Keywords

counselor education, wellness, health, well-being, counseling, counseling students

Abstract

Counselor education programs strive to promote the personal development and wellness of counselors in addition to cognitive, skill, and professional competencies. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in self-reported levels of wellness of master's level counseling students. The cross-sectional study investigated the influence of time in a counselor education program on the wellness levels of counseling students. Students were surveyed at three points in their counselor education training: the beginning, middle, and end. Participants included 204 master's level counseling students enrolled in three CACREP-accredited counselor education programs located in the southeastern United States. Each participant completed the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel) and a demographic questionnaire. A monotonic trend analysis was conducted in SPSS Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) to answer the question of whether master's level counseling students report higher levels of wellness as they advance through a counseling program. Additional univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed in order to answer questions related to the influence of demographic variables. Results of the study yielded no significant trends in self-reported levels of wellness by students as they progressed through their counselor training. Furthermore, gender, cultural background, and a requirement for personal counseling were not significant in accounting for differences in the wellness levels of students. However, those students who reported that their counselor education program offered a wellness course reported statistically significant higher levels of wellness. Responses to an open ended question on the demographic questionnaire, 'What, if anything, have you learned in your counseling coursework that has helped you develop knowledge and skills regarding your personal wellness?" were included in the discussion to provide insight into the results of the study. The findings suggested that, while counselor education programs may not increase levels of wellness in students, evidence from the demographic questionnaire indicated that personal development and wellness were emphasized. Perhaps systematic procedures for teaching and evaluating student wellness could be implemented in counselor education programs to insure that goals regarding personal development and wellness are being met.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2005

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Young, Mark

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Child, Family, and Community Sciences

Degree Program

Counselor Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000432

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000432

Language

English

Release Date

May 2005

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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