The Effect Professional Development has on Self-Efficacy Among School Counselors
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Kristine Iarussi
College:
The College of Health Professions and Human Services
Major:
Counseling and Supervision
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Michael Bobbitt
Abstract:
The purpose of this quasi-experimental design is to measure changes in self-efficacy, resilience, and perceived stress among school counselors when given the opportunity for self-selective professional development in the area of counselor education, as it relates to stress and burnout. The quantitative study will identify ways to improve competency through education training experiences for school counselors in a Pre-K through 12 school setting, and reduce stress and burnout. At this stage in the research, the study will look to address the short term and long term effects of stress due to lack of knowledge and understanding of topics necessary to be a successful school counselor. One's appraisal of demands and their assessment of their coping ability becomes a critical issue in relation to whether or not the demand will trigger a stress response. Self-efficacy can be an important personal resource with a distinct role not only in how school counselors tackle and perform challenging duties, but also in how they experience organizational resources and even burnout (Bardhoshi & Um, 2021). Researchers also reported that higher collective self-esteem is associated with a higher sense of personal accomplishment and lower emotional exhaustion (Butler & Constantine, 2005), whereas higher levels of ego development are associated with higher personal accomplishment (Lambie, 2007).
School counselors are asked to perform several tasks that very often they have not received training. This is in the counseling programs they attend as well as the professional development offered by school administration. An exploration of moving beyond stress and secondary trauma to the very nature of the commerce of resources and their utility (Hobfoll et al., 2018).
As Hobfoll (1998) explains, the lack of resources will create a vulnerability towards stress, which could lead to secondary traumatization and eventually burnout. It can also negatively impact the students they are responsible for. When feeling less equipped, individuals shy away from tasks that seem overwhelming and not aligned to their skillset. Resilience can be maintained based upon the ability of the resources within the system to absorb the stressor (Hobfoll et al., 2015). Therefore, the Brief Resilience Scale will be administered to both groups as well in a pre and post assessment format.
School counselors can learn from the research findings of ways to mitigate the negative effects of trauma on students through training that is based on current research. However, this can occur when the adults working with our youth have the adequate resources to address the myriad of needs. School counselors may not have the training in trauma-informed care and other related topics to know how to properly manage such reactions. The delivery of professional development, along with professional learning networks, remain an important component. School counselors better understanding how stress and anxiety impacts their ability to attune to their students as well as having knowledge on an array of related topics may shift the focus of the role of a school counselor in modern times.