Relationships between the levels of epistemological beliefs and degrees of therapeutic preferences among licensed professional counselors in Texas.

摘要

Problem. The problem of this study was to determine the relationships between the levels of metaphorical and rationalist epistemological beliefs, and degrees of therapeutic preferences for constructivism and cognitive-behavioral approaches among Licensed Professional Counselors in Texas.;Procedures. A systematic random sample of 3% of the total population of Texas LPCs was generated and mailed a packet containing the Counselor Attitude Evaluation Form (CAEF) and the Therapist Attitude Questionnaire (n = 282). Each respondent filled out both instruments, from which four different scores were derived. The categories were rational epistemology agreement, metaphorical epistemology agreement, cognitive-behavioral therapy agreement, and constructivist therapy agreement. Pearson's r was utilized to cross-reference epistemologies with therapy preferences to determine if the continuous data was strongly related.;Findings and conclusions. No strongly related comparisons were found from any of the four Pearson's r calculations. All null hypotheses were retained. Weak relatedness was found, however, between rationalist epistemology and cognitive-behavioral approach (0.356). Weak relatedness was also recognized between metaphorical epistemology and constructiveness therapy approach (0.276). A weak inverse relationship was discovered between rationalist epistemology and constructiveness therapy approach (-0.288). While strong relatedness between variables was not shown, the weak cumulative directionality of all hypotheses in the study indicates further research is needed, especially in the areas of validity and reliability of the instruments utilized, as well as administering those instruments in a group setting.