Annotated Bibliography.

Journal of Psychology and Christianity

2012, Vol. 31, No.4, 326-329

Copyright 2012 Christian Association for Psychological Studies

ISSN 0733-4273

326

In the Counseling Psychology program there are currently 7 full-time equivalent (FTE) fac- ulty members. We admit into the Counseling program approximately 4-6 students each year. We operate within a strong advisor- advisee model. From the initial application for graduate work, students are selected based on a match of research interests with a faculty member and in almost all cases continue to work with that faculty member through the completion of the dissertation and Ph.D. degree. We in the counseling psychology pro- gram here at ISU have made a concerted effort to increase our research productivity and impact, and we are proud of recent rank- ings that have placed our program consistent- ly within the top 5 of counseling programs in the nation (e.g., Buboltz, Deemer, & Hoff- mann, 2010). This general focus on research has implications for the students whom we are most interested in recruiting, which in turn has implications for the types of students whom I am trying to get interested in my research. In other words, the comments and guidelines that I make regarding students and research should be understood within the context that I work.

My Research Program Another important aspect of the context with-

in which I work is the research program that I have been able to develop. Starting in graduate school working with Everett Worthington, I established an interest and expertise in three main areas: psychology of forgiveness, psychol- ogy of religion, and group counseling/psy- chotherapy. The guiding principle among these three areas is research on the processes and out- comes of counseling/therapy. Therefore, I have

Encouraging Student Interest in Research on Forgiveness, Religion, and Group Counseling in a Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Program

Nathaniel G. Wade Iowa State University

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? -Albert Einstein

More often than not, I feel like I don’t know what I am doing. I guess if Einstein is correct, I must be doing something right as a researcher, then. Still, when asked to provide some advice for encouraging students to engage in research, I was not sure what I would be able to contribute. However, with Einstein’s quote firmly in mind, I will forge ahead and attempt to provide some of my experiences and a guideline or two that might be useful for others in a similar situation.

Academic Setting I am currently an associate professor of psy-

chology at Iowa State University (ISU). I have been here at Iowa State for nine years, since I completed my internship at the Center for Counseling and Student Development at the University of Delaware for my Ph.D. in Coun- seling Psychology from Virginia Common- wealth University. I am a core faculty member in the APA-accredited Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program within the Psychology Depart- ment. The Psychology Department is compar- atively small for a r esearch intensive university with only three doctoral programs (Cognitive, Counseling, and Social) and about 25 faculty members. Our research expecta- tions are consistent with being in a research intensive university.

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Nathaniel G. Wade, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology, Iowa State University, w112 Lagomarci- no Hall, Ames, IA 50011; [email protected]

In this article, I describe my experiences with encouraging student interest in research on forgiveness, religion, and group counseling within a counseling psychology Ph.D. program. The article explains my aca- demic setting, research interests, experiences with attracting students to my research, and guidelines or advice for others interested in developing student interest in research. My two main points of advice are follow your bliss and put students’ needs first.

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Fortunately (I say sarcastically), Ev was heading up the Campaign for Forgiveness Research at the time and he was able to give me a four-foot stack of grant proposals, articles, and chapters related to forgiveness. My task was to summarize the relevant literature for an invited review paper. Prior to entering graduate school, I had established my shared interest with him, and we had committed to working on these areas together. So in the very first meeting we were able to get to work rather than him having to spend semesters interesting me in his research and recruiting me to work with him.

That same model has worked very well for me here at Iowa State. I have successfully recruited 7 graduate students so far who have been inter- ested in my research areas and have conducted projects with me. Not all of them have been interested in academic careers, but all were inter- ested in and able to conduct excellent research projects. Certainly, the most research-productive relationships I have had were with my students seeking academic positions, who as a result were highly motivated to establish research records of their own. There really was no strug- gle in developing their interests to conduct research. It was there from the beginning, at least to some degree. Instead, with such stu- dents, recruiting them to come and do that research with me was the more pressing issue.

I polled my graduate students (current and past) to see what factors they indicated as impor- tant for deciding to come and work for me. In their anonymous responses, several key factors emerged. Although for some the match on research interests was central, most indicated a personal connection with me as a potential men- tor. They appreciated my desire to mentor and support them that I communicated even during the interviews. A couple of my students com- mented that they felt I would push them to work hard while still keeping a balance between per- sonal and school life. Another theme was my passion and enthusiasm for my research that was tempered with an interest in other areas of the students’ experiences, such as clinical work. One student indicated that my website was influential because it was informative, up-to-date, and included not only past projects but plans for future ones as well.

Getting students who are targeting clinical careers interested in research has proved more difficult. Like all of us, they want to do things that are relevant and time effective. For those

attempted (and not always been successful) to tie each of my research projects back to counsel- ing or psychotherapy in some way.

More recently, I have added an additional research area, the stigma of seeking psychologi- cal help. Again, I am most interested in the ways that stigma plays out in a counseling or therapy setting. I have been able to connect this area to my other interests in some ways, for example the effects of group counseling on self-stigma (Wade, Post, Cornish, Vogel, & Tucker, 2011). However, given my primary interests in forgive- ness, religion, and group counseling and my longer track record with those areas, I will focus my discussion in this article on getting students interested in those areas of investigation.

Attracting Students to Research For me, attracting graduate students to

research is a process that starts very early in their careers, in fact, before their official careers start with me. I have the luxury of choosing stu- dents who are interested in doing research and inviting them to come and work for me. As I said, this starts when students apply to the Counseling Psychology program here. One of the many criteria that I use to select my stu- dents is an interest in conducting research that fits my interests and research program. I favor students who can talk intelligently about research, have conducted research or assisted with it in the past, and have a genuine interest and desire to make research a career priority. In addition, I look for students who have a gen- uine interest in the topics I am exploring.

To the degree that I am successful in recruit- ing those who are more interested in research my task of trying to interest graduate students in research becomes relatively easy. Once such graduate students are enrolled in the program, we begin discussing the different projects that they can join. There is an assumption based on the interview process that they are interest- ed in conducting research on religion, forgive- ness, and/or group counseling. I capitalize on this initial interest and engage my students as soon as I can.

I learned this model first hand from my experi- ences with Ev Worthington, and it seemed to work great for us. I recall the first meeting I had with him. After a welcoming chat and overview of the semester, he introduced me to my first project (a literature review on the social psychol- ogy of forgiveness with clinical implications).

328 ENCOURAGING INTEREST IN GROUP RESEARCH

interested in being counselors, conducting sever- al research projects was not a good use of their limited time. They were much better served vol- unteering for an extra clinical practicum. So, to me the real issue is making the research activi- ties relevant. In some cases this is impossible. However, because my research area is centered on the processes and outcomes of counseling, the work can be framed in a worthwhile light for those seeking applied careers. I have had some success by encouraging such students to think about ways that the research might inform and improve their clinical work. One of my students, responding the to the survey described above, said that we had “an unspoken deal: I was more than happy to help you with whatever line of research you wanted to work on for those 4-5 years, and in return I wouldn't be pushed to publish, publish, publish… or to become a pro- fessional researcher.” Knowing that I was open to this sort of arrangement made the student feel welcome to come and work with me, not begrudging the research we did together.

Advice for Encouraging Student Interest in Research

Follow your bliss. I steal my first bit of advice from Joseph Campbell (1988). Campbell coined this phrase, which, despite its overuse and clichéd meaning now, means much to me. I have internalized this philosophy, which as I understand it encourages people to find their passion and to pursue it as best they can. Whether that passion is strange, trite, difficult, or downright counter-cultural, following one’s passion will lead to satisfaction and personal fulfillment. This has been true for me as it relates to research. Following my bliss has meant staying within the process and outcome research area even though it is more difficult than many other research areas.

I recall the mini-crisis I had in my second or third year as a professor. Tenure review was beginning to emerge on the horizon and I was starting to feel the pressure to have publica- tions. I saw other faculty around me who were collecting data from hundreds of undergradu- ates each semester in simple one-time labora- tory experiments or through online questionnaires. My main projects were taking months to recruit participants, months to have them complete treatments, and were still only assessing a handful of people with only mod- erately satisfactory results. In my panic, I

reassessed my research program and began entertaining the idea of shifting my focus to more easily completed studies that had little to do with therapy. As I talked this over with my wife at dinner one night, she shared her encouragement and wisdom. In essence she said, follow your bliss. She encouraged me to stop comparing myself with others in the department and to decide what it was that I really wanted to investigate—what I was pas- sionate about. I easily came back to process and outcome research, with a focus on reli- gion and forgiveness.

How does this relate to graduate student inter- est in research? I am convinced that enthusiasm is contagious and that graduate students have a profound knack for detecting a professor’s gen- uine interest in his or her research. If I am gen- uinely interested in and passionate about my research I will attract others to that research through my interests. Even students who might be lukewarm toward a particular topic can get energized and inspired by professors who are genuinely interested in their own research.

Place students’ needs first. In helping stu- dents to become interested in research, there must never be coercion or manipulation. By the nature of the power differential in the mentor- student relationship, such influence is altogether possible and unfortunately, too common. Although an academic’s career is important and research is often a necessary component of that work, including students in research should be a mutually beneficial arrangement that promotes the student’s learning and professional growth while helping advance the professor’s research program. Students should be able to make informed choices about their participation that do not lead to penalties, a loss of opportunities, or other negative ramifications.

Placing the students’ needs first includes helping them balance work and personal life. One of the more subtle ways that students’ needs are not prioritized is by focusing exclu- sively on their academic work, with the implied message that their personal lives are not impor- tant and should not be prioritized. This is an easy message to inadvertently send as ethical professors try to hold good boundaries between professional and personal relationships with their students. However, helping students bal- ance work and personal life does not necessi- tate prying, personal conversations but can simply include encouraging (and practicing)

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self-care, conveying realistic expectations about hours worked, and periodically checking in about how students are managing work loads.

To the degree that I have been able to hold in check my own tendencies to over-work my students and expect more from them than is reasonable, I have built a working environment that is productive yet healthy. This kind of working environment is designed for the “marathon” rather than the sprint. I want my students to enjoy research and make it a life- long pursuit. They are much less likely to do this if they burn-out in the first few years of their careers. Instead, I want to help them build stamina for the rigors of research: IRB applica- tions, data collection, failed experiments, and publication rejections. If that stamina can be built successfully, they will be able to reap the benefits of research: the development of new knowledge, the excitement of publications, and the ability to apply new ideas and concepts to the practice of psychology.

References

Buboltz, W., Deemer, E., & Hoffmann, R. (2010). Con-

tent analysis of the Journal of Counseling Psycholo-

gy: Buboltz, Miller, and Williams (1999) 11 years

later. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 368-375.

doi:10.1037/a0020028

Campbell, J. with Moyers, B. (1988). The power of

myth. New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc.

Wade, N.G., Post, B.C., Cornish, M.A., Vogel, D.L. &

Tucker, J. (2011). Predictors of the change in self

stigma following a single session of group counsel-

ing. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58, 170-182.

Author

Nathaniel G. Wade is Associate Professor of Psychology

at Iowa State University. His research interests are

focused on the psychology of forgiveness and religion,

particularly as they are applied in counseling and thera-

py settings. He is also interested in counseling process

and outcome research.

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