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ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS INVENTORY
ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS INVENTORY REFLECTION PAPER
J. B.
Liberty University
COSC 501: Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues in School Counseling
Dr. Brandy Richeson
September 3, 2023
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ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS INVENTORY
Abstract
As human beings, we all have different values, attitudes, and beliefs that he we live by
daily. In the counseling profession, there is a plethora of cases that one will be exposed to.
When dealing with these cases, we have to be aware of our own values, attitudes, and beliefs so
that they do not interfere with our practice. In this paper, I will discuss three questions/items that
I had the most difficult time answering. I will discuss the reason I found the questions/items
difficult, reflect on when and how my values and beliefs developed, and tell what personal and
professional work I need to engage in to address these issues.
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Introduction
After completing the “Attitudes and Beliefs Inventory,” there were several
questions/items that I rated “somewhat uncomfortable” and three items that I rated “very
uncomfortable.” The three questions/items that I had a difficult time answering was: a high
school student who believes she is a lesbian and wants to discuss how to come out to her parents,
a teacher who shares that her racially diverse students are not as academically astute as her white
students, and a student with terminal cancer who wants to hasten his/her death.
Reaction
A high school student who believes that she is a lesbian and wants to discuss how to
come out to her parents is something that contrasts with my personal values and beliefs. My
initial reaction to this question/item is that I would not want the student nor the parents to fell
that I agree with that choice of life. I grew up as a Christian in a Baptist church. I was taught
that God made woman from and for man (New Living Translation Bible App, Genesis 2: 22-24;
1 Corinthians 11:9). I respect everyone, even those who are apart of the lgbtq community,
because we all have feelings and want to be loved. However, I do not accept their choice of
lifestyle.
The second question/item that was difficult for me was “a teacher who shares that her
racially diverse students are not as academically astute as her white students.” My mind went
straight to “racism.” The remark that the teacher shared is a stigma that I have seen while
working in low performing, at-risk schools. Just because they are considered low performing
schools doesn’t mean that all students in the school are low performing. The students perform on
all academic levels. I have taught students from other races who are very clever, but I did not
compare them or think that they were better than the next.
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The last question/item that was extremely difficult for me was “a student with terminal
cancer who wants to hasten his/her death.” I would find it difficult to work with a client in this
type of situation. I believe that my emotions would surface due to my grandfather passing away
from cancer. I understand the person may choose to hasten death because they don’t want to
suffer or be in pain, but I also understand how drastically this will affect the family.
Response
An important factor of the identification process of someone who identifies as lgbtq is
coming out to their parents (Van Bergen et al., 2021). LGBTQ is a big, controversial topic today.
When I was growing up, there wasn’t much talk about the topic. It was actually frowned upon.
My beliefs and values on this topic began as I was growing up. Television, family members, and
my former pastor and his assistants were a huge influence in the development of my values and
beliefs on homosexuality. As a little girl, I remember hearing people refer to coming out as
“coming out of the closet.” At home and at church, I was taught that being gay was a sin and
was not acceptable in God’s eyes. Back when I was in school, students would actually joke
around and call their friends gay or they would say stuff like “no homo.” Today, homosexuality
is more prevalent in schools, and more students are open about their sexuality.
Teacher perceptions are one reason why students of color may perform academically
lower than their white classmates (Clinkscales et al., 2022). A teacher who feels that her racially
diverse students are not as smart as her white students would have different expectations for the
different groups of students in her class. With a racial mindset as such, low expectations would
be set for the racially diverse students while high expectations are set for the white students. In
2015, I began teaching in an at-risk magnet school. I had heard so many things about the
students being low performing, behavior problems, etc. I taught at that school for 8 years. In
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those 8 years, I learned to set high expectations for all of my students, because they will perform
to the level that you hold them to. My thoughts are that if they are all taking the same state test,
then my expectations (some with modifications) should be the same for all of my students. I
never compared my students to one another or thought that one group was better than the next. I
also learned that my racially diverse students could perform academically equal to anyone else.
My beliefs and values were developed as I grew in experience.
My initial reaction to “a student with terminal cancer who wants to hasten his/her death”
brought back many emotions for me. I lost my grandfather to cancer at the end of 2022, which
caused me to view certain things differently. I have two outlooks on this situation. My first
standpoint point comes from the family’s perspective. No family wants to see their loved ones
suffering and in pain, but no family wants to grieve their death either. When someone passes, it
has an impact on the entire family unit and creates a life long grieving process (Bartel, 2019).
Families have to learn to cope and get through this process. I can’t imagine having to explain to
someone’s parents that they want to hasten their death. My second standpoint looks at things
from the student’s perspective. According to Rodriguez-Prat et al (2019), one of the main
reasons terminally ill patients want to hasten death is due to then feeling like a burden to others.
Everyone enjoys independence and being able to do for themselves. In my opinion, a terminal ill
patient’s quality of life goes down when independence is no longer available to them.
Action
As a counselor, my values and beliefs cannot get in the way of my practice. There is
work (personal and professional) that has to be done to address the incongruence and conflicts. I
have already started doing the personal work that relates to the high school student who wants to
come out as a lesbian. Even though I see it as sin, I have been working on understanding that no
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matter the sexual orientation, all humans have feelings and their feelings matter. Professionally,
I would need to seek further training on cases as such. As a counselor, it is my job to make sure
students feel safe emotionally and mentally while making sure to support them in the
development of their identities (Atteberry-Ash et al., 2019).
The personal work that I feel like I would need for the case where the teacher shares that
her white students are smarter than her racially diverse students is through prayer and reading my
bible. I would have to seek more of God so that he could lead and guide me on how to handle
racism. Professionally, I would need to ask for supervision with a case like this. I would ask for
supervision to be certain that I follow the ACA Code of Ethics.
Lastly, the personal work that I feel like I would need for the case where the terminally ill
student wants to hasten his/her death would be personal counseling. I think personal counseling
will help me though my grieving process. This will also help me to better control my emotions if
I were to receive a similar case. Professionally, I believe I would need to research this topic
more. I think I would need to educate myself on this topic a little more rather than relying on
emotion. I would also seek supervision for further guidance in a case as such.
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References
Atteberry-Ash, B., Kattari, S. K., Speer, S. R., Guz, S., & Kattari, L. (2019). Children and Youth
Services Review, 104, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104403
Bartel, B. T. (2020). Families Grieving Together: Integrating the Loss of a Child Through
Ongoing Relational Connections, , 44:8, 498-509. Death Studies
https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2019.1586794
Clinkscales, A., Barrett, C. A., & Spear, S. E. (2022). The Role of Racial Match Between
Students and Teachers in School-Based Consultation. , 1–14. School Psychology Review
https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2022.2087477
New Living Translation Bible App, Genesis 2: 22-24; 1 Corinthians 11:9
Rodriguez-Prat A., Wilson D.M., & Agulles R. (2021). Autonomy and Control in the Wish to
Die in Terminally Ill Patients: A Systematic Integrative Review. Palliatie and Supportive
Care, 19, 759-766. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478951521000985
van Bergen, D. D., Wilson, B. D. M., Russell, S. T., Gordon, A. G., & Rothblum, E. D. (2021).
Parental Responses to Coming out by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Pansexual, or Two
Spirited People Across Three Age Cohorts. , , 1116–Journal of Marriage and Family 83
1133. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12731
