The Effect of an Experiential Learning Activity on Counselor Trainees' Empathy and Attitudes Towards Substance Abuse

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MacLeod, B. (2015). The Effect of an Experiential Learning Activity on Counselor Trainees' Empathy and Attitudes Towards Substance Abuse. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Substance use disorders are becoming more prevalent in the United States. CACREP-accredited counseling programs recently added a requirement for the training of skills, knowledge, and awareness of substance use disorders to counseling training programs. The stigma associated with people who abuse substances has negative effects on counselors' perceptions of substance use disorders and their substance abusing clients. Experiential learning is a common form of teaching in counseling in general and substance abuse counseling specifically in order to change counselor trainees' views of substance abuse. This study tested the effectiveness of a common experiential learning activity in substance abuse, the abstinence project, on counselor trainees' empathy and attitudes towards clients with substance abuse disorders. This quasi-experimental pre-post control group design used two groups of graduate-level substance abuse counseling courses, one that engaged in the experiential learning activity (n = 16) and one without (n = 22). Four two-way mixed ANOVA's were used to test for interaction effects of time by group. Non-stereotyping attitudes approached significance, F(1,34) = 4.08, p = .051, partial eta squared = .11 in the hypothesized direction. Treatment intervention attitudes, F(1,30) = 2.37, p = .13, partial eta squared = .07; treatment optimism attitudes, F(1,33) = .02, p = .89, partial eta squared = .001; and empathy, F(1,36) = .83, p = .37, partial eta squared = .023, were nonsignificant for interaction effects. There was a main effect for group of treatment optimism attitudes, with the experimental group having higher overall optimistic attitudes towards substance abuse treatment, F(1,33) = 5.25, p = .03, partial eta squared = .14. The results suggest that the experiential learning activity has a promising positive effect on empathy and non-stereotyping attitudes towards people with addiction. Implications as a result of this study, including recommendations for counselor educators and future research are also discussed.

Details
Author

MacLeod, Bailey

Title

The Effect of an Experiential Learning Activity on Counselor Trainees' Empathy and Attitudes Towards Substance Abuse

Physical Description

1 online resource (170 pages) : PDF

Date

2015

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Substance use disorders are becoming more prevalent in the United States. CACREP-accredited counseling programs recently added a requirement for the training of skills, knowledge, and awareness of substance use disorders to counseling training programs. The stigma associated with people who abuse substances has negative effects on counselors' perceptions of substance use disorders and their substance abusing clients. Experiential learning is a common form of teaching in counseling in general and substance abuse counseling specifically in order to change counselor trainees' views of substance abuse. This study tested the effectiveness of a common experiential learning activity in substance abuse, the abstinence project, on counselor trainees' empathy and attitudes towards clients with substance abuse disorders. This quasi-experimental pre-post control group design used two groups of graduate-level substance abuse counseling courses, one that engaged in the experiential learning activity (n = 16) and one without (n = 22). Four two-way mixed ANOVA's were used to test for interaction effects of time by group. Non-stereotyping attitudes approached significance, F(1,34) = 4.08, p = .051, partial eta squared = .11 in the hypothesized direction. Treatment intervention attitudes, F(1,30) = 2.37, p = .13, partial eta squared = .07; treatment optimism attitudes, F(1,33) = .02, p = .89, partial eta squared = .001; and empathy, F(1,36) = .83, p = .37, partial eta squared = .023, were nonsignificant for interaction effects. There was a main effect for group of treatment optimism attitudes, with the experimental group having higher overall optimistic attitudes towards substance abuse treatment, F(1,33) = 5.25, p = .03, partial eta squared = .14. The results suggest that the experiential learning activity has a promising positive effect on empathy and non-stereotyping attitudes towards people with addiction. Implications as a result of this study, including recommendations for counselor educators and future research are also discussed.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Counseling psychology
Education, Higher

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

Attitudes
Counselor Education
Empathy
Experiential Learning
Stigma
Substance Abuse

Subject Area

Counseling

Advisor(s)

Culbreth, Jack

Committee Members

Furr, Susan
Veach, Laura
Flowers, Claudia
Crane, Jon

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2015.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

MacLeod_uncc_0694D_10754

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:924