The emergence of unique elective identities in the professional identity development research in the counseling profession

Abstract

In this study, a qualitative content analysis of the professional identity development research in counseling was conducted to describe elements of the development of “elective identities” of leader, research, counselor educator, and social justice practitioner. Predisposing, process, and outcome codes reveal experiences and contexts that influence this development in students, educators, and counselors.

Social justice content in counseling journals: Comparison of publication rates

“…There are no other such studies in the counseling literature. Prior topic-specific reviews include online teaching (Li & Su, 2021), adoption (Liu et al, 2019), social class and socioeconomic status (Clark et al, 2018;Cook et al, 2020), professional identity development (Dollarhide et al, 2023;Gibson et al, 2023), and Black American issues (Woo et al, 2022). All these studies included strong suggestions for future professional practice for the topic they examined.…”

“…Other studies have examined topics across counseling journals, including online teaching (Li & Su, 2021), adoption (Liu et al, 2019), social class and socioeconomic status (Clark et al, 2018;Cook et al, 2020), and professional identity development (Dollarhide et al, 2023;Gibson et al, 2023). Similarly, Woo et al (2022) examined topics and themes related to Black Americans in ACA journals over 24 years, documenting journal and year, methodologies, and topics.…”