The study examined whether age, prior work experience, number of courses taken, and number of internship hours have a positive relationship with counseling self‐efficacy. Participants were 116 counselor education students. The results from correlation and multivariate analyses of covariance revealed that the length of internship hours and prior related work experience were positively correlated with counseling self‐efficacy. The differences in counseling anxiety, affection adjustment, and assessment found between the students in programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and those in non‐CACREP‐accredited programs disappeared when the background variables were controlled as covariates.

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The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's critique of modern ethics and his virtue-centered alternative suggest that counseling can be considered a form of applied virtue ethics, helping clients cultivate the qualities necessary to live the good life. Although similar to developmental theory and positive psychology, this perspective also questions whether counseling is value neutral and suggests that counseling should account for the (often hidden) traditions, virtues, and practices of the good life it promotes. Comparison with spiritual direction suggests ways counseling can apply the insights of this model ethically within a pluralistic setting.

Research suggests that an emphasis on spirituality and religion in counseling has increased awareness but not translated into changes in practice. The authors contend that part of this challenge is the lack of a broad, heuristic model for integration that seeks to embrace the complex, fluid, and negotiated nature of spirituality and religion. Cheston's () Ways Paradigm for teaching counseling theory provides such a model, leading to new perspectives on counselor education, research, and practice.

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Service-learning is an approach to experiential learning that is relatively unexplored among graduate students. The authors of this study sought to understand the process and effects of service-learning among 76 graduate counseling students enrolled in an “Introduction to Community Counseling” course over three semesters, 40 of whom engaged in service-learning. Analyzing students’ reflection papers, projects, and blog entries via a grounded-theory approach, the study generated a model of how service-learning impacted these students’ learning and sense of counselor identity. Students went through a process of development: They began with personal engagement, became overwhelmed, readjusted their expectations, and then reconstructed their individual counselor identities.

Few studies of the clergy have examined emotional well-being using normed measures. This study examined subjective well-being among 1,581 non-retired Episcopal priests. Subjective well-being was measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Predictors of subjective well-being were measured with the Dispositional Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991) and scales of personal practices, social support, congregational dynamics, fit, and economic satisfaction. Participants reported more positive affect (Hedges's g = 1.19), more negative affect (Hedges's g = 0.61) and more satisfaction with life (Hedges's g = 0.73) than nonclinical norms. Hope agency was the strongest predictor for positive affect and satisfaction with life; stress was the strongest predictor for negative affect and partially mediated the effect of congregational dynamics and fit on this outcome. Results suggest that prevention programs must focus on all aspects of subjective well-being and consider the direct effects of different levels of the ecosystem to be effective.