Denise J. Larsen

Qualitative Interviewing Using Interpersonal Process Recall: Investigating Internal Experiences during Professional-Client Conversations

Interpersonal process recall (IPR) interviewing uses video-assisted recall to access conscious yet unspoken experiences in professional caregiving interactions. Although IPR has been employed across the helping professions, little has been written about effectively conducting IPR interviews. Drawing on their IPR-based counseling research on hope, the authors provide a framework for the use of IPR interview strategies and for addressing challenges unique to IPR. Specific issues include (a) preparing the research team and setting, (b) issues specific to IPR interviewing, including framing IPR questions, (c) working with heightened emotion, and (d) negotiating professional/researcher roles. Finally, they discuss participant experiences and potential applications of IPR.

Understanding the role of hope in counselling: Exploring the intentional uses of hope

In this paper we look at various conceptual models of hope and research evidence for the integral role that hope plays in counselling. We recognize hope as a dynamic process during which counsellor and client interact in ways that can be mutually influencing and we review research that explores this reciprocal process. A model for the intentional use of hope in counselling that recognizes both implicit and explicit approaches is offered. Metaphors for hope-work that position and re-position both counsellor and client in ways that may foster hope are explored. Finally, we provide suggestions for initiating conversations in which hope can be an explicit therapeutic focus.

HIV peer counseling and the development of hope: perspectives from peer counselors and peer counseling recipients.

Peer counseling is becoming an increasingly viable treatment option when working with people living with HIV and AIDS, especially during the diagnostic process. Unfortunately, little research has looked at the perceived benefits of peer counseling from the perspectives of clients receiving the services and those providing the services. In addition, research suggests that hope can help people living with HIV to deal with the HIV diagnosis and to improve their lifestyles; however, the authors were unable to locate any research exploring the benefits of peer counseling in fostering the hope of people living with HIV/AIDS. The present paper, following a community-based research paradigm embedded within a qualitative case study methodology explores the benefits of peer support counseling from the perspective of 12 participants living with HIV who have had experiences with peer counseling. Participants identified several thematic benefits of peer support counseling, including the role of peer counselors in the process of fostering hope. Roles and benefits of peer counseling, in relation to the facilitation of hope for people living with HIV/AIDS, suggest potentially interesting implications for future research and practice in HIV/AIDS care.

Understanding Hope in the Face of an HIV Diagnosis and High-risk Behaviors

The purpose of this article is to: (a) explore and describe experiences of hope in the context of high-risk behaviors; and (b) identify sources of hope for participants dealing with an HIV diagnosis. Following qualitative case study methodology along with philosophical hermeneutics, 12 people diagnosed with HIV or AIDS were interviewed to understand their experiences of hope. Participants were selected based on self-report for continuing or increasing high-risk behaviors following diagnosis. Results include participant descriptions of hope as well as five higher order categories that highlight sources of hope following an HIV diagnosis. Implications for treatment of those newly diagnosed and engaged in high-risk behaviors are discussed.

To Offer Hope You Must Have Hope: Accounts of Hope for Reintegration Counsellors Working With Women on Parole and Probation

As women on parole and probation transition from correctional facilities to the community, they face many threats to reintegration. Reintegration counsellors offer support to individuals on parole and probation who are re-entering the community. Working closely with a marginalized population places counsellors at risk for burnout and hopelessness. Research indicates that hope can serve as a sustaining and motivating factor when facing difficult working contexts. Further, a large body of research consistently confirms the importance of hope in the human change process, both for clients and clinicians. The current study investigated how reintegration counsellors fostered and maintained hope in their work, including their personal descriptions of hope. Employing Merriam’s (2002) basic interpretive inquiry, five reintegration counsellors participated in semi-structured interviews about their work experiences. Thematic analysis indicated that hope played an important role in these counsellors’ experiences of work and their belief in their clients. The overarching theme of the findings, Maintaining a Hope-Seeking Orientation, elucidates the complexity of maintaining a hope-seeking orientation in the challenging context of reintegration counselling. Specifically, participants in this study were understood to hold a hope-seeking orientation to their worklife that included, viewing life as a journey, maintaining a hopeful perspective, holding ‘down-to-earth’ expectations, and viewing hope-seeking as a learnable skill. Participants associated hope with both motivation and meaning, believing that hope was a necessary ingredient in their work and a resource to combat work-related exhaustion. Implications for counselling include sustaining hope at work through a variety of means, including perspective change.

Enhanced Psychological Health Among Chronic Pain Clients Engaged in Hope-Focused Group Counseling

Researchers have begun to evaluate interventions intended to enhance hope in various populations. Chronic pain is a pervasive problem with significant psychosocial consequences. This article presents studies that examined the extent to which a hope-focused group counseling intervention enhances hope and well-being in two community-based samples of participants (N =10 and N = 24) experiencing chronic pain. A pilot study (Study 1a) and a main study (Study 1b) both used a one-group, pretest–posttest design to determine whether participants experienced changes regarding their hope, well-being, acceptance of pain, and catastrophizing of pain. Both studies showed that participants experienced numerous and significant changes from pre- to post-intervention, including improvements in well-being and pain acceptance in Study 1a and improvements in hope, well-being, and catastrophizing cognitions in Study 1b. Self-reported pain severity, assessed only in Study 1a, did not change. We discuss implications for practice, study limitations, and potential lines of hope-related inquiry for future research.

‘It’s important for me not to let go of hope’: Psychologists’ in-session experiences of hope

Helping professionals are often expected to have a ready and limitless supply of hope. However, novice and experienced psychologists alike recognize the challenge of maintaining hope when working with difficult presenting problems and demoralized clients. As professionals, to hold hope in session while witnessing our clients’ hopelessness and experiencing our own can be very difficult. The importance of client hope is well recognized in psychotherapy research, yet research exploring psychologists’ own experiences of hope has been neglected. This study, part of a larger program of research on hope in psychological practice, invited psychologists to reflect on their experiences of hope in practice. Interpersonal Process Recall allowed psychologist-participants to view playback of their video-recorded session and reflect on their in-session experiences of hope. Using basic interpretive inquiry, this case study identified categories of: (a) psychologist self-influence on hope, (b) client-specific factors relating to psychologist hope, and (c) psychologist hope experienced in the therapeutic relationship. Implications for practice include encouraging psychologist self-awareness about hope, recognizing that psychologist hope can fluctuate naturally in session, encouraging psychologist hopeful self-care, and seeing psychologist hope as providing therapeutic information.

Hope in a strengths-based group activity for individuals with chronic pain

While hope has been described as the ability to imagine a future in which one wishes to participate, individuals with chronic pain can have difficulty maintaining hope due to the pervasive impact of pain on multiple facets of their lives. This research examines client experiences of hope during a hope and strengths activity offered as part of a group treatment plan for individuals experiencing chronic pain. Entitled Being Hopeful in the Face of Chronic Pain, the group was developed in order to focus on hope and generative emotional experiences, experiences often lacking for individuals with chronic pain. The group activity being studied specifically addressed participants’ current strengths and strengths they hope-to-have-more-of. The study employed basic qualitative inquiry and utilized interpersonal process recall individual interviews to stimulate participant recall. Twelve participants (spanning three separate group offerings) individually discussed their personal experiences as they unfolded during a specific hope and strengths-focused activity. Participants described experiences during the group activity that fostered personal hope via perspective shifts, communion, comparison and connection with other group members. Findings are discussed in the context of current literature on hope, chronic pain, positive psychology and group interventions.

Working with Unrealistic or Unshared Hope in the Counselling Session.

Hope has long been identified as an important therapeutic factor in counselling. Further, research evidence for the importance of hope to counselling practice and outcome is abundant. However, the field is only beginning to explicitly consider how hope can be effectively and intentionally practised. One of the most challenging dilemmas encountered by counsellors committed to working with this important therapeutic factor is that of so-called unrealistic hope. In this paper, we outline two real-life counselling vignettes illustrating unrealistic hope, and consider these scenarios alongside relevant scholarship and practice experience. Guiding principles and practices for conceptualising and working with unrealistic hope are offered as a means of beginning the conversation about this complex aspect of working with client hope.

The “Being Hopeful in the Face of Chronic Pain” Program: A Counseling Program for People Experiencing Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a condition defined by its intractable nature, with a host of negative impacts on the lives of sufferers, including a deficit of positive emotions. This article presents an innovative group therapy program for chronic pain patients entitled Being Hopeful in the Face of Chronic Pain. Theoretical background for the creation of the group is presented, along with empirical evidence to support the efficacy of the program. The 6-week group program is described in sufficient detail for practitioners to adapt it for use, delineating the specific activities undertaken in each session. Implications for chronic pain treatment are discussed.