Martin A. Swanbrow Becker

Expanding the Application of Group Interventions: Emergence of Groups in Health Care Settings

Changes in the health care arena and within the specialty of group work are contributing to the increased utilization of groups in health care settings. Psychoeducational, theme, and interpersonal therapy groups are highlighted for their contributions to treating challenging health conditions. An understanding of the evolution of these group modalities, distinguishing their core features, and applying the fundamentals of group development assist in the development of group interventions to treat a wide range of conditions. Theme groups appear to be emerging as a more prominent group modality across a variety of health care settings to address challenging health conditions.

Distress and Suicidality in Higher Education: Implications for Population-Oriented Prevention Paradigms

ABSTRACT College students respond to stressful experiences along a continuum of distress and suicidality. This study investigated, from students’ perspectives, the contributors to stress, nature of stress, coping strategies used, and role of drugs and alcohol during stressful periods—all with particular relevance for suicidality. Undergraduate and graduate students were sampled on an online survey from 73 institutions, totaling 26,292 respondents. The pervasiveness of stressful experiences students endorse appears to be more than traditional clinical interventions can manage on their own. Recommendations are, therefore, made about how to utilize population-based prevention to reduce students’ distress and suicidality and improve their mental health.

The Influence of Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training on Resident Assistants' Mental Health.

This study explored the mental health influence on resident assistants associated with their training in suicide prevention and their subsequent role as campus mental health gatekeepers. Despite considerable prior personal experience with their own suicidal thinking as well as with others who have thoughts of suicide, a multiple regression analysis revealed that resident assistants in this study appear resilient to situational stress experienced with resident mental health interventions. Implications for campus gatekeeper training are discussed.

Supporting Transgender College Students: Implications for Clinical Intervention and Campus Prevention

ABSTRACT This study examines the experiences of transgender college students in coping with stress in comparison to their cisgender peers. Undergraduate and graduate students from 73 colleges, totaling 26,292 participants, of which 47 identified as transgender completed an online survey. Transgender students reported greater exposure to trauma and higher rates of suicidal experiences, as well as different precipitants to reported stressful periods and sources of support than their cisgender peers. Implications for individual and group counseling as well as outreach and prevention to better support transgender students are explored.

Essential Counseling Knowledge and Skills to Prepare Student Affairs Staff to Promote Emotional Wellbeing and to Intervene with Students in Distress.

Abstract The focus on helping students transform their lives has emerged as part of the mission of many colleges and universities. Campus-based student affairs personnel contribute to this endeavor through their efforts to create a campus ecology conducive to supporting and promoting well-being and by their engagement with students in their time of need. These two types of involvement with students necessitate that graduate studies programs in student affairs educate future student affairs professionals in the knowledge base and, at times, the skill base essential to being effective in both population-focused and individual assistance. This article delineates several aspects of the counseling and health promotion knowledge base and related competencies students should acquire during their graduate program in student affairs. It divides the knowledge and skill base into activities that are primarily growth and prevention oriented and those that are focused on helping students resolve existing challenges commonly encountered during enrollment in college.

Therapist Directiveness and Client Reactance in the Administration of Homework in Therapy with College Students.

ABSTRACT The present study used an analog design with three vignettes portraying homework administrations at three levels of therapist directiveness (low, medium, and high) and the Therapeutic Reactance Scale to measure participant reactance. Participants (N = 436) read the vignettes and completed the Homework Completion Scale (HCS), Counseling Continuation Scale (CCS), Counselor Rating Form-Short (CRF-S) Attractiveness and Expertness subscales. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant differences between low and high reactant groups on the HCS and CCS for the High and Medium directiveness homework administrations. These results suggest that therapist directiveness does interact with client reactance in the administration of homework.

Prevention of shape and weight concerns among college students: An examination of education status variables

Abstract Objective: The current study examined whether overlooked aspects of the postsecondary student experience predicted individuals’ body-related concerns, beyond the influence of demographic factors that have upheld explanatory power in past research. Participants: Undergraduate and graduate students (n = 3,259) took part in the multi-institute Healthy Bodies Study during the 2015 academic year. Method: Participants completed an online survey that assessed their undergraduate/graduate statuses, academic majors, extracurricular involvements, and body-related concerns. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were run to answer primary study questions. Results: Gender, body mass index (BMI), undergraduate/graduate student status, being a male graduate student, major, and extracurricular activities predicted shape concern (SC), weight concern (WC), and whether these concerns increased since students began at their universities. The addition of the student-specific variables uniquely contributed to the variance in body-related concerns. Conclusions: Further research on the body-related discontent of the identified student groups should be conducted to elucidate potential campus-based treatment targets.

Helpful or harmful? The comparative value of self-weighing and calorie counting versus intuitive eating on the eating disorder symptomology of college students

ObjectiveThe current study evaluated the comparative implications of self-weighing and calorie counting versus intuitive eating (IE) on the eating disorder (ED) severity of college students.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, college students in the US [N = 902; 68% female; mean body mass index (BMI) = 24.3] completed the web-based Healthy Bodies Study in 2015.ResultsA hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that elevated BMI, more frequent self-weighing and calorie counting, and lower IE scores predicted increased ED severity. The results of Kruskal–Wallis H tests indicated that participants with elevated weight statuses engaged in self-weighing and calorie counting more frequently, and possessed lower IE scores, than their lower weight counterparts.ConclusionEngaging in self-weighing and calorie counting was adversely associated with ED severity among the present sample of college students. Cultivating IE within health promotion efforts may, instead, lead to favorable eating-related outcomes that may translate to the holistic health of this population.Level of EvidenceV cross-sectional descriptive study.

Promoting First-Generation College Students' Mental Well-Being: Student Perceptions of an Academic Enrichment Program

Abstract: Academic enrichment programs seek to address the challenges first-generation students face, but research tends to focus on academic outcomes. In this study we investigated first-generation students’ perceptions of how a program addresses their mental well-being. A total of 25 undergraduate students who were enrolled in an academic enrichment program participated in focus groups and interviews. A thematic analysis of the focus groups and interviews revealed that students reported the program promoted their mental well-being by helping them to feel cared for, cultivating a sense of belonging, preventing and remediating distress, and helping them become resilient.