Article
Godspeed: Counselor Education Doctoral Student Experiences from Diverse Religious and Spiritual Backgrounds
The Qualitative Report
(2018)
Abstract
Amidst growing literature regarding the importance of spirituality within
counseling and counselor education, little is known of the experiences of
doctoral students regarding their religious and spiritual backgrounds while
matriculating through their doctoral program. This research explored the
experiences of four researcher-participant counselor education doctoral
students from diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds. This exploration
deepened their understanding of the role their religious and spiritual identities
played in their thoughts, emotions, challenges, and strengths of their
experiences. A phenomenological autoethnography method was used for this
study. A unique data analysis procedure was developed called Integrative
Group Process Phenomenology (IGPP), which was used to analyze journal and
music data. The overarching experience was described as a journey with four
primary categories of themes identified: painful experiences, learning and
awareness, velocity (i.e., themes descriptive of movement and action), and
connect versus disconnect. This research brought to light the challenges that
counselor education doctoral students may encounter in their training, while
highlighting the strength and resilience that religion and spirituality may offer.
Recommendations, limitations, and implications for the counseling profession
are offered to further the development of research regarding religious and
spiritual experiences
Keywords
- Counseling Students,
- Religion,
- Spirituality,
- Autoethnography,
- Phenomenology,
- Doctoral Training
Disciplines
Publication Date
2018
Citation Information
Anekstein, A. M., Bohecker, L., Nielson, T., & Martinez, H. (2018). Godspeed: Counselor
education doctoral student experiences from diverse religious and spiritual
backgrounds. The Qualitative Report, 23(11), 2862-2882. Retrieved from
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss11/15