Effects of Structuring on Students' Perceptions of Career Counseling

This study examines the effects of the use of structuring on participants' impressions of a counselor during an initial career counseling session. A total of 232 undergraduate students viewed a videotape of an initial career counseling session. Both groups observed the identical tape with the exception that one group was additionally shown a brief structuring segment. The 2 groups were compared across the variables of attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness as measured by the Counselor Rating Form. The participants were also asked to rate their willingness to see a counselor about a career issue before and after viewing the videotape. Significant differences were found across the dependent measures. Implications of the findings for counselors are discussed.     

Cotherapy: A Means of Training with the Family

This article explores cotherapy as a therapeutic and training tool. An exposition of both the advantages and challenges of cotherapy is provided. Ideas regarding cotherapy utilisation in marriage and family therapy training programs are discussed with particular reference to possible difficulties and how they might be addressed. The final section addresses factors relevant to the development of a cotherapy relationship, including an overview of various models that have been previously advanced in the literature. The primary reference point for this article is an experiential orientation, but those from a variety of orientations should discover applicability to their practices. The authors hope this article will serve to provoke readers to consider their own thoughts on this topic and pursue it in more depth.     

Overcoming barriers to permanency planning

The authors describe their success with a permanency planning project that emphasized interagency cooperation and worked from the thesis that every child is adoptable if return to the biological family is not possible.     

Jeopardy: A Career Information Game for School Counselors

This article outlines one innovative approach by which school counselors can reinforce students' learning of important career information.     

WOMEN SOCIOLOGISTS IN THE MIDWEST: A STATUS UPDATE

In this article, an earlier study of the status of academic women sociologists in the Midwest that was extended to 1984–1985 is discussed. Type of appointment, rank, and chairpersons, as well as position in a Ph.D. rather than an M.A. program were used in the study as indicators of employment status. Midwest Sociological Society (MSS) leadership positions and participation in the annual MSS meeting served as indicators of professional participation. The results show that gains in employment status for women slowed in the 1980s. Employment of women in sociology department positions, especially in full-time positions and higher ranks, continued to lag behind the proportion of women Ph.D.s in the field. Women were overrepresented in the secondary labor market of part-time employment. However, women are now almost as likely to be employed in Ph.D. as well as M.A. programs. While gains in employment status generally slowed, professional participation has accellerated in recent years. Possible explanations for the differential penetrability of the two realms are offered. The appropriateness of statistical parity as a standard for evaluating equality in academic employment also is discussed. This article proposes that structural barriers to employment equity for women may not be more significant than direct discrimination.