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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Beer, Amanda

Contributors dc:contributor

• Spanierman, Lisa B.

• Education, Guidance and Counseling

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3337694

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/80048