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Counselor educators (N = 167) in programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs were surveyed regarding research training received during their doctoral studies. Respondents shared perspectives regarding the quality and quantity of their research course work as well as suggestions on how to enhance research training in counselor education programs. Differences in the amount, type, and attitudes toward research were found according to programs from which educators were graduated and year of graduation. The influences of mentoring as a critical practice in research training also emerged. Implications for research training in counselor education are discussed.

The field of counseling is expatiating on counselors’ religious values that conflict with the affirmation of diverse sexual orientations. There is also a germane systemic issue: the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs’ practice of providing accreditation to counseling programs housed within religious institutions that disaffirm or disallow individuals with sexual minority identities. This article examines the complexities of this practice given the field's ethical mandate to affirm both religious and sexual orientation diversity.

BackgroundRecent efforts to prepare healthcare professionals to care for patients/clients with substance use problems have incorporated SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) into graduate education programs. No research has examined the benefits and methods of an SBIRT interprofessional education approach for behavioral health graduate students and medical residents. This pilot study examined the implementation of an interprofessional curriculum on SBIRT to improve attitudes, abilities, skills, and knowledge of learners planned by faculty from multiple professions at a state university.MethodsFaculty in Counseling, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Nursing and Social Work departments collaborated to develop an interprofessional curriculum delivered through a small-group and active learning approach.  Seventy-one residents and graduate students participated.  Pre- and post-training surveys measured self-perceived attitudes, abilities, and skills along with objectively measured knowledge.  Analysis examined pre- to post-training changes in scores.ResultsPre-training surveys yielded an 89% response rate; post-training, 85%. Self-perceived attitudes did not change significantly, except a 20% increase in how rewarded learners felt while working with patients/clients with alcohol/drug use disorders (P < .01). Compared to baseline, there was a statistically significant increase in all items of self-perceived ability (P<.01) and all items of self-perceived communication skills (P<=.04). Knowledge mean scores also increased significantly (P < .001) across both primary care and behavioral health learner groups.ConclusionsInterprofessional training in SBIRT produced improvements in ability, skills, knowledge, and some attitudes. Such programs may inform providers who care for patients/clients with substance use problems, thus improving their competence and personal experience.

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