Examining the Internationalization of Counseling Psychology Scholarship: A Content Analysis of Two US Journals

Abstract

This content analysis examined internationally focused scholarship published from 1997 to 2009 in two counseling journals published in the United States (US), namely The Counseling Psychologist (TCP) and the Journal of Counseling Psychology (JCP). Both demographic and content criteria, including author affiliation, participant location, topic area, cultural relevancy of construct examined, method of collaboration and research design, were examined. A positive trend for the publication of non-US-based scholarship was observed; however, a 10% representation of internationally-oriented scholarship in the past 13 years suggests the potential for further international initiatives and integration in the field. Questions and implications for future development of internationalization within USbased counseling psychology are discussed.

A working definition and conceptual model of internationalization for school and educational psychology

“…Within the existing literature, I identified at least nine types of goals that various authors have described. Some examples include finding solutions to local and global needs (e.g., Gerstein, Heppner, Ægisdóttir, Leung, & Norsworthy, ; Heppner, Leong, & Chiao, ), including but not limited to developing and evaluating culturally appropriate, evidence‐based interventions and assessments (Begeny, Levy, Hida, & Norwalk, ; Spilka & Dobson, ); creating a more culturally informed, inclusive, and internationally applicable profession, and in so doing, enhancing professionals’ training and development in areas such as intercultural competence (e.g., Bullock, ; Hurley, Gerstein, & Ægisdóttir, ; Ng, Choudhuri, Noonan, & Ceballos, ); improving representation of international professionals working within the discipline—such as by having geographically representative scholarship in discipline‐specific journals or representative leadership in international organizations (e.g., Arnett, ; Pieterse, Fang, & Evans, ); ensuring that theories, practices, and systems within a discipline are tied to the local culture (e.g., Leong & Ponterotto, ; Leung, ); and creating a better synthesis of theories, procedures, and/or data across cultures (e.g., Leung et al., ; van de Vijver, ). Later in this article, each of the nine identified goals are summarized in a table and presented within the context of a conceptual model of internationalization.…”

“…Although scholarship explicitly discussing aspects of internationalization remains nascent across all subdisciplines of psychology, empirical evaluations of internationalization are particularly limited (compared to narratives and other types of conceptual work). Of the empirical examinations currently available, most focus on internationally representative scholarship, or the lack thereof, and how it relates to internationalization within psychology and its subdisciplines (e.g., Aleksandrova‐Howell, Abramson, & Craig, ; Arnett, ; Begeny et al., in press; O'Gorman, Shum, Halford, & Ogilvie, ; Pieterse et al., ; Piocuda, Smyers, Knyshev, Harris, & Rai, ). This fact may not be surprising given that most conceptual discussions about internationalization either directly or indirectly reflect the importance of scholarship.…”

Publication characteristics and outlets of school and educational psychology scholars around the globe

“…Although there has been scholarship within the broader field of psychology discussing critical components or challenges associated with internationalization (e.g., Arfken, ; Consoli, Bullock, & Consoli, ; Pieterse, Fang, & Evans, ; van de Vijver, ), up until the publication of this special issue in Psychology in the Schools , we know of only a couple of complete studies within school and educational psychology that sought to empirically examine specific aspects of internationalization within the discipline (Begeny, Levy, Hida, & Norwalk, ; Begeny et al., in press). The two studies differed in their goals and research questions but were similar in that they examined the international scholarship published in field‐specific (i.e., school and educational psychology) journals and aimed to understand (1) the geographical representation of authors and study participants in the published studies; and (2) the trends across, and within, the examined journals.…”

“…More central to our particular goals of this study and, as we noted earlier, one important component or goal of a field's internationalization is geographically representative scholarship (Begeny, ), such as scholarship published in discipline‐specific journals. If professionals within school psychology are truly attempting to understand theories and practices that are applicable to local, national, and potentially international settings where school psychology is present, we need to ensure that representative scholarship exists and is accessible (Arnett, ; Pieterse et al., ; van de Vijver, ). Two recent studies (Begeny et al., , in press) suggest that many journals that publish international scholarship in school and educational psychology lack geographical representation from many regions and countries that have a presence of school psychologists and graduate training programs in school psychology.…”

Using a Collaborative Model in Supervision With International Counseling Students

“…Over the past few decades, the move toward internationalization in higher education in the United States has been strong, with the number of international students steadily increasing each year (Institute of International Education, ). Such growing internationalization has naturally impacted the training, focus, and recruitment of students and faculty in counseling and related mental health training programs (Lau & Ng, ; Ng, ; Pieterse, Fang, & Evans, ). Researchers in mental health training programs (e.g., Lau & Ng, ; Mittal & Wieling, ; Ng, ; Pieterse et al, ; Reid & Dixon, ) have begun focusing on the unique training needs of international counseling students (ICSs) in the United States and calling on other researchers to expand their research focus to include ICSs.…”