Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Exploring the Experiences of Intake Professional Counselors: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Perspectives of Professional Counselors Working as Intake Counselors in the Inpatient Psychiatric Setting

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/kp78gq22k

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  • Inpatient psychiatric hospitals are critical to delivering community-wide acute mental health care. Professional counselors hold roles as intake counselors within the system of inpatient facilities (Werrbach, 2011). While they are essential to the processes within the system, there is no known research on intake counselors and their tasks of assessment within the inpatient psychiatric setting. Intake has traditionally been a function of professional counseling rather than a primary job. Intake counseling is covered as a job function in the literature but not as an overall job choice for professional counselors (Young et al.; Marsh 1999). The deficiency of guidance in the literature and the lack of emphasis on intake interviews are problems for professional counselors who act as intake counselors in the inpatient psychiatric setting. The researcher analyzed the experience of professional counselors that work as intake counselors in the inpatient psychiatric setting. The research approach for both studies is Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). IPA helps the researcher explore individuals’ meaning-making about their experiences (Smith et al., 2012). The researcher recruited eight participants from across the United States. The smaller sample size represents the field as inpatient psychiatric hospitals make up only 10% of the total inpatient facilities, and intake counseling consist of various professions. Participants for this study met the criteria of identifying as professional counselors with experience working in the inpatient setting as intake counselors. Intake counseling was also their primary job in this setting. The researcher utilized IPA data analysis as described by Smith et al. (2008). Strategies to increase trustworthiness in both studies included peer debriefing, reflexivity, thick description, and member checks (Lincoln et al., 1985). The first study (n=8) explored the experience of professional counselors that work as intake counselors within the inpatient psychiatric setting. The findings of this study indicate that intake counselors experience: fulfilling a practical need to work as an intake counselor, struggling to cope with the lack of specific training, having an internal struggle between professional identity and system requirements, and containing emotion to cope with the stressors of working in the inpatient environment. Additionally, these counselors experience job sustainability as dependent on multi-dimensional openness and support. The second study (n=8) explored participants' experience conducting intake assessments within the inpatient psychiatric setting. The findings of this study suggest that these counselors feel compelled to adapt the assessment to patient needs, use empathy as a gateway to connect with patients and families, grapple with complex safety concerns during the assessment, and feel overwhelmed by the system and desire relief from other staff. Implications for this research are directed toward foundational knowledge and support of professional counselors that are intake counselors within the inpatient psychiatric setting. The findings emphasize the challenging work done by these counselors and its personal and professional impact. Therefore, implications are geared toward professional counselors, supervisors, counselors in training, and the inpatient system.
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