Publishing Qualitative Research in Counseling Journals

"Treat Me Like a Dumb American": a Qualitative Exploration of the American Immigrant Counselor Experience

This qualitative study addresses the gap in the limited literature on the experiences of American immigrant counselors practicing overseas. Seven American immigrant counselors were interviewed regarding their experience. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using inductive Thematic Analysis. Three themes were identified: lack of cultural knowledge as counseling technique, American stereotypes/politics within the counseling session, and issues surrounding lack of counseling regulation and transfer of professional credentials. Implications for American counselor education are discussed.

Working Across Differences While Online: Examining the Experience of Facilitating a Virtual Group

A growing body of literature illustrates the benefits of online groups for clients, but few studies have examined counselors' experience facilitating such groups, particularly in regard to counselor work with clients of differing sociodemographic traits. In this study, graduate-level counseling students facilitated two psychoeducational college counseling groups via an online platform. Groups were tailored for Black and/or African American first-generation college students (FGCS) enrolled in urban high schools. Facilitator experiences using an online platform and counseling across sociodemographic variables were explored. Themes included barriers to cohesion building, difficulty of power/oppression discussions via a virtual setting, and adjusting tactics and expectations.

Prayers and Mindfulness in Relation to Mental Health among First-Generation Immigrant and Refugee Muslim Women in the USA: An Exploratory Study

The goal of our study was to explore how first-generation immigrant/refugee Muslim women experience prayer and mindfulness in relation to their mental health. Participants were nine women from an urban city in the Midwestern USA. The women completed a structured demographic survey and a virtual semi-structured interview in a focus group. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we obtained four overarching themes from the data: (a) Prayer helps to build community, (b) Prayer promotes wellbeing, (c) Prayer increases faith, and (d) Prayer encourages intentional awareness. The findings demonstrate that prayer involves awareness and has a strong influence on the mental health of the women participants.

Harm Minimisation Drug Policy Implementation Qualities: Their Efficacy with Australian Needle and Syringe Program Providers and People Who Inject Drugs

(1) Background: Policies and laws in several jurisdictions across the globe have aimed to promote harm minimisation or reduction, through the implementation of Needle and Syringe Programs (NSP) for people who inject drugs (PWID), for whom abstinence may not be possible or desired. While NSPs hold great promise, their implementation qualities are understudied. (2) Aim: We aimed to examine the implementation quality priorities of NSP providers and PWID consumers in an Australian setting. (3) Method: This study utilised a Quantitative-qualitative (QUAN-qual) mixed methods approach. Survey participants included both PWID (n = 70) and NSP providers (n = 26) in Australia. (4) Results: Results following non-parametric data analysis indicate NSP providers prioritised NSP implementation qualities in the following order: compatibility, observability, relative advantage, resourcing and trialability. Contrary to which, PWID prioritised resourcing, compatibility, relative advantage and trialability, respectively. Findings demonstrate that efficacy of implementation qualities is dependent on the juxtaposition of service provision and utilisation whereby implementation quality priorities are balanced. (5) Conclusions: This research presents novel findings guiding NSP harm reduction programmes for sustainability framed on provider and consumer implementation quality priorities. We envisage future studies on boundary conditions of NSP harm reduction implementation in other jurisdictions.

Iranian superwomen's career experiences: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Superwoman refers to the identity of a woman who performs several important roles simultaneously and full-time, such as being a wife, mother, and homemaker while holding a job. This study aims to examine the career experiences of Iranian superwomen who maintained their mental health while holding multiple roles.

METHODS

Data for this qualitative study were collected via semi-structured interview and analyzed using conventional content analysis. The study participants were 12 multi-role women from different occupations in Tabriz, North West of Iran selected through purposive and theoretical sampling. The women's mental health status was assessed using Mental Health Continuum-Short Form questionnaire before participating in the research.

RESULTS

The results were classified into three main categories. The first category included Underlying Factors of Job Experience with six subcategories, including Limited job opportunities for women, Educational context (mindset shaped in the parental home), Commitment or freedom in obtaining a job and its continuation, Personality traits, and Non-cognitive skills (emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence); the second category included the adopted strategies to solve career problems with two subcategories: effective strategies, including the benefits of having a mindset of abundance and having a vision and strategic planning, and ineffective strategies, including the benefits of having a mindset of scarcity; and the third category included Perceived Consequences of employment with two subcategories: psychological consequences and social consequences, with both subcategories including some positive and negative further subcategories. Moreover, a conceptual relationship between the main categories and the subcategories was evident.

CONCLUSIONS

The content obtained not only supports the findings about the experiences of multi-role women in cultures outside Iran, but also points to the unique aspects of Iranian superwomen's life experiences and narratives. The findings of this study can help us perceive the real career experiences from the perspective of Iranian professional women with multiple roles.

Social Justice Identity

This exploratory, phenomenological qualitative study was designed to investigate the phenomenon of social justice identity by understanding respondents’ lived experiences with social justice efforts. Data analysis yielded four themes describing the lived experiences of respondents’ social justice identity. Implications for training, supervision, and research are included.

Understanding and Reporting Qualitative Research

Qualitative research methodology is an often misunderstood and underutilized set of philosophies, approaches, and procedures that lends itself quite readily to the study of phenomena of substantial interest to rehabilitation researchers, research consumers, and individuals with disabilities. For that reason, we propose general guidelines for developing and preparing manuscripts to be submitted for journal publication. We discuss important elements to address in introducing the study, describing the research methods, presenting the findings, and discussing the findings. Throughout the article, we use examples from qualitative research articles to illustrate both the process and reporting of qualitative research.