We examined the representation of working alliance from client and counselor perspectives and the associations between counselor fatigue and working alliance in online counseling. Using three-level models, we analyzed 211 sessions from 31 clients and 16 counselors. Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis indicated that goal agreement, task agreement, and emotional bond loaded positively on the working-alliance factor for both clients and counselors, with differences in loading magnitudes limited to descriptive patterns. Counselor-reported fatigue was then examined at the session, client, and counselor levels in relation to both client- and counselor-reported working alliance. Counselor fatigue was not credibly associated with any dimension of client-reported working alliance at any level. For counselor-reported working alliance, however, greater session-level fatigue was associated with lower emotional bond, whereas greater counselor-level fatigue was associated with lower goal agreement. These findings suggest that counselors’ subjective experience of fatigue may be reflected in their own evaluations of the working alliance without necessarily corresponding to clients’ evaluations, highlighting the importance of considering both reporter perspectives and levels of analysis in online counseling.
The tenure and promotion process is critical for all faculty, especially for international faculty. For many international counselor educators, obtaining permanent residency in the United States is closely tied to success in tenure and promotion. Despite the critical link among tenure, promotion, and immigration status for international counselor educators, research on this topic remains scarce, potentially complicating recruitment, retention, and support for this population. For this study, the research team aimed to examine the lived experience of international counselor educators in the United States navigating the tenure and promotion process. Using criterion sampling, the researchers recruited 15 international counselor educators. Participants were interviewed, and data were analyzed utilizing decolonizing research methods. Results included four themes: expectations for tenure and promotion, supportive relationships, toxic environments and coping strategies, and unique challenges. Implications include actionable strategies for international counselor educators and institutions to foster equity and improve retention. Results in this study should be considered in light of limitations of the study, such as self-selection bias.
The lived experiences of acculturation-related intergenerational conflict (A-IC) among second-generation Chinese immigrant adult children using a post-intentional phenomenological approach were explored. Three rounds of interviews were conducted with five participants, generating 15 transcripts. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed three domains and eight themes. The three domains are: intergenerational interactions; balancing cultural expectations, roles, and identity; and psychological well-being and coping. The findings underscore the importance of understanding A-IC as an evolving dynamic and viewing Chinese immigrants’ coping with it from a strength-based perspective. The findings also highlight the complexity of culture and identity, and provide insights for mental health professionals to increase culturally responsive services for second-generation immigrant youth. This study enhances knowledge and awareness of acculturation-related intergenerational conflict (A-IC), Chinese cultural issues, and the challenges faced by second-generation Chinese immigrants during acculturation. The findings highlight the importance of offering mental health support with intersectional awareness that respects and reflects their cultural backgrounds and identity, influenced by acculturation and unique immigration status.
Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and integrated with Triandis’s and Hofstede’s collectivism frameworks, the author examined the factors that Arab school counselors in Israel identify as shaping their attitudes toward LGBTQ students. Interviews with 15 counselors identified influences on attitudes toward LGBTQ students in Israel, including the three categories of religious beliefs at the macrosystem level, socio-cultural factors such as family honor at the exosystem level, and the school environment at the microsystem level. Counselors described these domains as bearing on one another, with religious authority supplying the terms in which the subject is understood, community norms supplying their enforcement, and the school as the setting in which enforcement is encountered as a condition of professional work. The inseparability of religion and culture in this setting means that professionally trained counselors describe attitudes aligned with their ecological context, and several described holding positions they did not consider themselves able to enact. Counselors from Muslim and Christian backgrounds described similar patterns, suggesting that these factors operate across religious communities within a shared collectivist-conservative context. The findings extend the multicultural counseling literature by questioning individualist assumptions about attitude formation and by indicating the value of ecological analysis for understanding counselor attitudes in collectivist societies.
The authors explored the lived experiences of young South Korean women who identify as K-Jangnyeo—eldest daughters bearing disproportionate caregiving and financial responsibilities. Guided by an intersectional framework, it examines how class, gender, and cultural expectations shape their identity and career development. Four participants from low-income backgrounds, all long-term scholarship recipients, engaged in phenomenological interviews. Using Colaizzi’s method for phenomenological research, five themes were identified, encompassing experiences such as internalizing gendered care roles, navigating poverty, cultivating resilience, managing compromised career paths, and striving to stabilize fragile families. While participants show strong adaptability, their narratives illustrate how traditional norms and broader constraints shape their choices. This study contributes to cross-cultural understandings of gendered family roles and their psychological impacts, highlighting the need for culturally tailored scholarship on gendered responsibilities and their implications for counseling. It underscores the value of culturally responsive counseling practices and career interventions that reflect clients’ diverse sociocultural contexts.
