A Grounded Theory of Counseling Students Who Report Problematic Peers

Abstract

All counselors, including students, are responsible for intervening when a colleague shows signs of impairment. This grounded theory study investigated experiences of 12 counseling students who reported problematic peers. An emergent theory of the peer reporting process is presented, along with implications for counselor educators and suggestions for future research.

A Systematic Review of Online Response Rates in Four Counseling Journals

“…To protect the anonymity of respondents in an online study focused on graduate students in a single state, “the researchers did not collect information regarding two other important facets of the participants—characteristics of the institutions they attended and their general geographic location” (Byrne & Shufelt, 2014, p. 186). Although this article and Parker et al (2014) both noted anonymity as an issue, its effect was quite different in each study and necessitated using this code in both themes.…”

“…This limitation was mentioned in only two of the articles we reviewed, and the way in which it was limiting in the study was different in each case. The study included here as a code within the recruitment theme noted that lack of anonymity influenced self‐selection and participation in the study: “more than one participant responded to our study from an anonymous e‐mail account that was created expressly to provide anonymity to study participants” (Parker et al, 2014, p. 123).…”

Students' Perspectives on Gatekeeping in Counselor Education: A Case Study

“…In a review of the literature, only seven published studies considered students perspectives, with two in counselor education (Gaubatz & Vera, ; Parker et al, ) and five in psychology (Mearns & Allen, ; Oliver, Bernstein, Anderson, Blashfield, & Roberts, ; Rosenberg, Getzelman, Arcinue, & Oren, ; Shen‐Miller et al, ; Veilleux, January, VanderVeen, Reddy, & Klonoff, ). Mearns and Allen () noted from survey data that 95% of students ( N = 73) acknowledged knowing a student with professional deficits, and 42% indicated that they had confronted the student of concern.…”

“…Approximately two thirds of the sample stated that they were unsure if their program had a policy in place to address students of concern. Parker et al () interviewed current and former counselor education students ( N = 12) to develop a theory of peer reporting of gatekeeping concerns. Students in the study expressed a need for clear protocols for reporting peers and believed that programs can reduce the number of gatekeeping issues by improving the admissions process.…”

“…Furthermore, the impersonal nature of surveys limited researchers' understanding of trainees' personal stories with students of concern and their beliefs about how these issues should be addressed. Only Parker et al () investigated through interviews students' experiences related to reporting their peers who had problems of professional competency. Using in‐depth interviews, our qualitative study explored the following questions: (a) What do students think about the practice of gatekeeping?…”