Advancing Social Justice in Counseling Psychology: Enlisting Student Voices Through a Mixed-Methods Study
This mixed-methods study provided an empirical perspective of counseling psychology graduate trainees' social justice commitments. In the survey portion of the study, a national sample of trainees (n = 260) completed a web-based survey assessing their commitments to social justice and related personal and training variables. A sub-sample (n = 7) of trainees who identified as social justice activists on a number of indicators provided in-depth interview information regarding their personal, professional, and training experiences. Using a complementarity framework, survey and interview results supported political interest and spirituality as predictors of general activism. A general activism orientation was a strong predictor of social justice commitment specific to the profession of counseling psychology. Findings also revealed a need for future research clarifying the roles of training environment and social-group identities in predicting trainees' commitments to social justice.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign