Measuring Comfort Level of Counselors-in-Training with Integrating Religion/Spirituality in Counseling

Author

Cherisse Arianne Jenkins, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

12-2009

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Wang, Yu-Wei

Abstract

Despite their relevance to multicultural issues in counseling psychology, religion and spirituality (R/S) issues have been largely neglected in counseling and psychology training programs (Brawer, Handal, Fabricatore, Roberts, & Wajda-Johnston, 2002; Russel & Yarhouse, 2006; Schulte, Skinner & Clairborn, 2002). This study presents the initial validity and reliability estimates of the Scale of Comfort with Integrating Religion/Spirituality in Counseling (SCIRSC), a self-reported measure to assess the comfort level of counselors-in-training with integrating R/S in their clinical practices. Three hundred participants from clinical and counseling graduate psychology training programs participated in this study. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in 5 factors: R/S Self-Disclosure, R/S Interventions, R/S Reflection, R/S Supervision and Consultation, and R/S Exploration. The SCIRSC was positively correlated with measures of R/S training (RSTS; Wang et al., 2008), R/S competency (Wang et al., 2008), and R/S practice habits in counseling (PHP; Wang et al., 2008), and was not correlated with a measure of impression management (BIDR; Paulhus, 1991). High internal consistency was also found in the total SCIRSC scale and its five subscales. A discussion of how this scale can add to the research and practice regarding the incorporation of R/S in counseling is provided.