Research

TOPIC SELECTION: Find a Gap Assignment 1

TOPIC SELECTION RESEARCH 2

Topic Selection: Find a Gap Assignment

Elethea Richards

Department of Counselor Education and Family Studies, Liberty University

Author Note

Elethea Richards

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elethea Richards

Email: [email protected]

1) First topic of interest: I have always wondered how counselling impacted the quality of life of patients with depression and anxiety issues.

Gap statement: According to Tarantino et al. (2018),

“The study was carried out at a single clinical site. In the future, these aspects should be considered in order to conduct a more complete evaluation.”

Reference

Tarantino, E., Crescenzo, P., Campobasso, M., D’alessandro, F., Argiento, P., Romeo, E., & Vizza10, M. D. (2020). Psychological counselling interventions to improve perceived quality of life and counter anxiety and depression in pulmonary-arterial-hypertension patients: A clinical trial. Journal of Health and Social Sciences, 5(4), 533-542.

This research studied the effects of counselling sessions on patients with anxiety and depression an also on the self-reported quality of life of these patient. The results found out that counselling helped in improving the quality of life of patients with depression and anxiety symptoms.

2. Second topic of interest: What are the impact of student career counselling on their overall performance and educational outcomes?

Gap statement: according to Scofield et al. (2017),

“The institution studied has one of the highest average 6-year graduation rates in the country. … Therefore, an institution with a more representative graduation rate could pro-vide greater capacity for detecting the effect of counseling center services on graduation.”

Reference

Scofield, B. E., Stauffer, A. L., Locke, B. D., Hayes, J. A., Hung, Y. C., Nyce, M. L., ... & Yin, A. C. (2017). The relationship between students’ counseling center contact and long-term educational outcomes. Psychological services, 14(4), 461.

The research studied the impact of the usage of the counselling center on the long-term educational outcomes for full-time students. The analysis of the results revealed that use of counselling services graduated as scheduled and did not have major mental health problems.

3. Third topic of interest: How do incorporating animal assisted therapy impact adolescents with mental health problems?

Gap statement: According to Jones et al. (2019)

“Some excellent recommendations to improve the quality of the literature have been made in previous reviews including: clear and accurate use of terminology to describe interventions, such as those developed by the IAHAIO; ensure therapeutic interventions are distinguished from brief unstructured activities; and calls for standardization (manualisation) of interventions to improve treatment fidelity and replicability.”

References

Jones, M. G., Rice, S. M., & Cotton, S. M. (2019). Incorporating animal-assisted therapy in mental health treatments for adolescents: A systematic review of canine assisted psychotherapy. PloS one, 14(1), e0210761.

The research studied the impact of animal-assisted interventions on distinct development period of adolescents. The results showed that there was sufficient evidence to show that canine-assisted psychotherapy improved factors in adolescents such as coping, subjective wellbeing, and self-esteem.