Counseling and therapy practices of school psychologists with parents and families

A survey was conducted of 191 members of the National Association of School Psychologists who actually practiced in schools. The purpose of this study was to examine some of the self-reported differences which had not yet been investigated between two groups of school psychologists: those who do and those who do not choose to provide direct counseling/therapy services to parents and families. Some of these uninvestigated differences included time constraints, ratio of service, the perceptions of influence on their job roles, and the respondents\u27 perceptions of administrative support. This study was also directed at determining the therapeutic models rated by members of the two groups as most useful and what differences exist in their beliefs about the factors important in the etiology of child referrals. The results showed that very few school psychologists in school practice are actually engaged in counseling/therapy with parents and families although a majority of school psychologists think these services should be conducted in the schools. School psychologists who have administrative support, have time allotted for the activity, and who perceive more control over their job roles are more likely to be conducting counseling and therapy with parents and families in the schools. Likewise, school psychologists whose job descriptions discourage them from conducting counseling and therapy with parents and families in the schools are no less likely to engage in those services; nor does the number of students to be served relate to this decision. School psychologists\u27 perceptions of the usefulness of any particular - therapeutic model do not appear to bear much relationship to their - choices to spend time providing services to parents and families. The only exception to this appears to be a relationship which exists between perceiving the usefulness of the Reality Therapy and Adlerian models and spending time in therapy with mothers and fathers. Also the relationship between seeing the usefulness of the Family Systems model and spending time in therapy with families was significant. No strong relationships existed between the choice to provide counseling/therapy to parents and families and beliefs about the perceived importance of various etiological factors when dealing with child problems