To determine if counselors integrate clinical behaviors for addressing religious/spiritual issues in counseling consistent with their ratings of the importance of such behaviors, the authors conducted a national survey of American Counseling Association (ACA) members. Seventy-eight ACA members rated the importance of and frequency with which they…

Spirituality and religion are integral parts of a person's belief system and support network. Although there are many avenues a person can take when seeking mental health care, conservative Protestant clients have a tendency to seek assistance through their church. There is a paucity of literature about conservative Protestant church members'…

Using the Dimensions of Personal Identity Model proposed by Arredondo and Glauner (as cited in Arredondo et al., 1996), the authors reviewed the last 11 years of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling's journal, "Counseling and Values", specifically regarding the "A" dimensions of race and ethnicity. Twenty-five…

Exploring spirituality and religion continues to be an important component when considering multicultural issues. However, understanding how to incorporate spiritual and religious diversity into counseling courses continues to be a challenge for educators. An exercise using drama therapy was developed to explore religion and spirituality.

Given that constructivist approaches to counseling and religious faith traditions have divergent views regarding the understanding and perception of reality, the question arises, "Can a counselor embrace both a constructivist counseling approach and a particular religious tradition?" Using a diversity within unity perspective, the author argues…

The authors investigated the relationship between religious and spiritual values and moral commitment in marriage to further inform marriage and family counselors about the nature of committed relationships. Using a qualitative research design, they examined individuals' perceptions of moral commitment in their marriage and how their religious and…

The death of a loved one has serious implications for adolescent growth and development. The authors review relevant research on the grief process and spirituality in adolescence, and they give a rationale for integrating spirituality into adolescent grief work. By way of a case illustration, they draw implications for counselors' use of…

The critical incident technique was used to examine how counselors' religion and spirituality help and hinder counselor empathy toward clients. Twelve counselors holding Christian beliefs identified 242 helping and 25 hindering incidents that formed 14 helping and 3 hindering categories. Categories reflected counselors relying on a natural…

The purpose of this study was to examine how belief in a just world (BJW), political ideology, religious ideology, socioeconomic status of origin, and race relate to social justice advocacy attitudes among school counseling professionals. A sequential multiple regression indicated that political ideology and BJW were statistically significant…

Quantitative research dominates published literature in the helping professions. Mixed methods research, which integrates quantitative and qualitative methodologies, has received a lukewarm reception. The authors address the iterative separation that infuses theory, praxis, philosophy, methodology, training, and public perception and propose a…

This study describes the development of the Spiritual Competency Scale, which was based on the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling's original Spiritual Competencies. Participants were 662 counseling students from religiously based and secular universities nationwide. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 22-item,…

The history of Western philosophical thought has been dominated by the search for transcendent truth. As a consequence of this history, various epistemological dualisms (such as fact/value and appearance/reality) have come to structure modes of inquiry. Reliance on such dualisms has resulted in a degradation of values discourse, which, along with…

Many African American women begin counseling stigmatized by race and gender and may be targets of additional discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, class, age, and other social variables. In this article, the authors discuss "womanist" spirituality as a means for African American women to cope with racism, sexism, and multiple social…

Religion and spirituality are resources regularly used by patients with cancer coping with diagnosis and treatment, yet there is little research that examines these factors separately. This study investigated the relationships between religious practice and spirituality and quality of life (QoL) and stress in survivors of breast cancer. The sample…

Qualitative, phenomenological research provides rich information about the constructive, life span perspectives of the manifestation and development of altruism. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, this study investigated "altruism" as described by 34 older persons in a continuing care retirement community. The findings…