A formative evaluation of pre-service preparation of substance abuse counseling in CACREP accredited school counseling programs

Graduation date: 2004Substance abuse is a prevalent occurrence among adolescents. A review of the\ud literature revealed that adolescent substance abuse has a strong connection to their\ud academic performance. School counselors address adolescents' academic and\ud personal/social needs by providing services through prevention education, responsive\ud services, and collaboration with community members. Yet, there is a dearth of literature\ud as to whether pre-service school counselors are prepared to deal with substance abuse\ud issues.\ud The purpose of this study was to evaluate pre-service substance abuse training\ud provided in CACREP accredited school counseling programs. The instrument utilized\ud was entitled School Counselor Pre-Service Preparation in Grief/Loss and Substance\ud Abuse Counseling. The survey included three questions concerning substance abuse\ud training for pre-service school counselors and three questions concerning Grief/Loss\ud training. The substance abuse questions and data were utilized for this particular study.\ud The surveys were mailed to a total of 150 CACREP accredited school counseling\ud programs, and 79 programs responded to the survey, resulting in a response rate of 53\ud percent.\ud The results revealed that the majority of CACREP accredited programs in this\ud study offered substance abuse training through either required or elective coursework.\ud Limitations of the study, implications for CACREP accredited programs, and\ud recommendations for future research are also discussed