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Clinical Bias: Do Counselors' Perception... - Document (937 K) |
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| Author |
Millner, Uma Chandrika |
| Title |
Clinical Bias: Do Counselors' Perceptions of Prostitution Impact Their Work? |
| Date created |
2010 |
| Abstract |
This study focused on the assessment of counselor perceptions of prostitution and the examination of how perceptions influence counselors' clinical judgments. The preliminary study involved the development of Counselor Perceptions of Prostitution Scale (CPPS) designed to assess counselors' attitudes towards prostitution. The items developed based on the debate in the literature between those who view prostitution as social oppression and inherently traumatizing, and those who believe that prostitution is a self-determined career path were administered to seventy-two counselors-in-training. The measure demonstrated high internal consistency reliability (α = 0.87), had a significant negative correlation (r = -.68) with the Attitudes towards Prostitution Scale (ATPS) and exploratory factor analysis yielded a unidimensional scale. In the final study, three brief clinical vignettes were used to manipulate the variable of client's engagement in prostitution. Each vignette comprised of a client seeking services for depression while engaging in prostitution, selling marijuana, or working in a department store. One hundred and ninety-eight mental health providers rated their empathy, attribution of responsibility for the cause of and solution to the problem, assessment of client's functioning, and willingness to work with the client in response to the vignette assigned. They also completed CPPS and ATPS. Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Overall, results of the MANOVA revealed that empathy was the most significant contributor to the difference between conditions. Contrary to prediction, there was no difference in empathy for the client engaging in prostitution versus the client working overtime at the department store. However, counselors' demonstrated lower levels of empathy for the client selling marijuana. The CCA revealed that in response to the prostitution vignette, counselors who viewed prostitution as inherently traumatizing and also held accurate beliefs about prostitution were likely to be more empathic and attribute less personal responsibility to the client for solving her own problems. Limitations of this study and implications for counselor practice, education, and future research are discussed. |
| Use Restrictions |
I hereby allow Boston College to include and preserve my dissertation/thesis in electronic form in the Boston College Institutional Repository, which shall include the right to publicly post my dissertation/thesis on the World Wide Web. I will retain copyright ownership, but I grant to Boston College the non-exclusive right to copy, distribute, and publicly display my dissertation/thesis in any form as may be necessary or convenient in the future as file formats, storage media, and distribution mechanisms evolve. |
| Subject |
Attitudes |
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Clinical Bias |
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Counselor Bias |
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Counselor Perceptions |
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Prostitution |
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Sex Work |
| Publisher |
Boston College |
| Link to Item |
2345/1742 |
| Thesis Advisor |
Blustein, David L. |
| Degree Name |
PhD |
| Degree Grantor |
Boston College. Lynch School of Education. |
| Sys. No. |
000005111 |
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