Female Client Perception, Experience, and Understanding of Psychotherapeutic Change in Rural Appalachia Ohio: A Phenomenological Study
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences, perceptions, and understandings of five female participants in the rural Appalachian Region of Ohio who reported psychotherapeutic change as a result of mental health counseling.The psychotherapeutic change process has been defined by multiple theorists, however in this study the meaning of change is explained from the participant's perspective.Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews, demographic, and counseling questionnaires.A combination of Colaizzi's (1978), Van Manen's (1984), and Moustakas' (1994) phenomenological methods was utilized for data analysis.The four themes that emerged from the participant's stories answered the central research question: What are the Appalachian female client's experience, perception, and understanding of psychotherapeutic change?Generated themes included: Experiencing Therapeutic Change in a Safe Counseling Relationship, Education as a Precursor to Experiencing Therapeutic Change, Experiencing Change as a Journey to Empowerment, and Experiencing Therapeutic Change as Modern Appalachian Daughters with Traditional Appalachian Mothers.Practice and research implications are discussed.Chapter one presented the introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose, and significance.The following chapters elaborated on the phenomenon being studied.Chapter Two reviewed the literature in the areas of counseling, psychotherapeutic change, factors and components of change, and mental health counseling with Appalachian female clients, the population from which the participants were selected.Additionally, Chapter Two explored both quantitative and qualitative research studies in order to gain knowledge, critique information, identify gaps, generate implications, and provide continuity to this study.Historical and contemporary literature was reviewed.The qualitative methodology, specifically phenomenology, was explained in Chapter Three, including participant selection, sampling strategies, procedures for data collection, and analysis.The data were analyzed by using a combination of Moustakas' (1994) phenomenological research model and Van Manen's (1984) phenomenological approach.Chapter Four reported the phenomenological exploration and explication of the data.Personal stories gathered during face-to-face interviews were explored to allow participants to fully describe their understanding of the change process that occurred during the counseling process.Participant descriptions answered the research questions.Additionally, participants filled out a demographic form and a counseling form.Chapter Five presented the generated themes from the data.Chapter Six integrated the findings of this study within the existing literature and provided a discussion on the conclusions drawn from the data.Ogles, B. M., Lambert, M J., & Fields, S. A. (2002).Essentials of outcome assessment.
Author: Melissa Martin
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2523543886