Men Passionately Pursuing Purpose (MP3): A Group Counseling Intervention for Black Male Student Athletes

A Systematic Literature Review Exploring Achievement Outcomes and Therapeutic Factors for Group Counseling Interventions in Schools

“…This finding confirms that school counselors can use group interventions to produce positive achievement outcomes that are quantitative in nature for Black and Brown students in school settings (Weinstein et al, 2021). Along these lines, all of the articles in the current study that were qualitatively focused and/or did not report means and standard deviations in the results (Harris et al, 2020; Havlik et al, 2020; Rose & Steen, 2014; Steen & Bemak, 2008; Steen et al, 2017) included either Black or Latino/a students as participants. We suggest that school counselors and researchers partner to conduct interventions that use mixed-method designs to capture both useful quantifiable information and important racial and culturally specific information on the school counselor group leaders, student participants, and any interactions that can be surmised from these reports.…”

“…Four studies (Blackburn, 2008; Bowers et al, 2015; Campbell & Brigman, 2005; Steen, 2007) had medium effect sizes, and three articles (Conyers, 2005; Hinch, 1995; Shechtman et al, 1996) yielded large effect sizes. Five articles either did not contain enough descriptive data within their studies to calculate the strength of the intervention (Rose & Steen, 2014; Steen & Bemak, 2008; Steen et al, 2017) or the strategies they used were primarily qualitative (Harris et al, 2020; Havlik et al, 2020).…”

“…In the present study, we sought to confirm the therapeutic factors that were directly or indirectly mentioned as a part of a given study and any links to effectiveness that can be made. For instance, Harris et al (2020) suggested that for Black male student athletes receiving group counseling interventions in school settings, therapeutic factors are useful as a framework because they can help the students gain clarity on their identity from the universality, altruism, instillation of hope, cohesiveness, catharsis, interpersonal learning, and existential factors that are cultivated within the group (Yalom & Leszcz, 2020). Specifically, we sought to identify any evidence to support school counselors focusing on therapeutic factors as useful targets along with a focus on achievement.…”

Using Poetry to Foster Positive Racial Identity in Middle School Black Girls: Implications for School Counselor Practice, Preparation, and Research

“…Another positive by-product of small groups offered in schools is a sense of belongingness, which children and adolescents search for at these stages in their development. The opportunity for students, especially Black youth, to openly express themselves in a nonthreatening, supportive environment is essential and helps them benefit from effective groups (Harris et al, 2020). More important, a supportive environment helps students of color to feel empowered by their intersections of identity, not limited to their cultural identities such as their race and gender, and this can lead to healthy identity development (Steen, Melfie, et al, 2022;Steen, Vannatta, et al, 2022).…”

Please Join Me/Us/Them on My/Our/Their Journey to Justice in STEM

“…Dr. Harris was an assistant professor of counselor education, where he studied career readiness, identity, and counselor preparation related to underserved students (Harris et al, 2020).…”