The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68557

Thomas Sexton, PhD, Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Indiana University, 201 North Rose Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, 812-856-8350, thsexton@indiana.edu

There are more than 79,000 professional counselors currently practicing in the United States in a variety of work settings with a diverse group of clients using a wide range of practices. Given the increasing need for qualified mental health, substance abuse, and other specialized counseling practitioners, understanding the range of practices, types of services provided, and outcomes is critical if counselors are to play a role in the delivery of quality health care services. This presentation will report on the results of a multiyear project aimed at understanding the role of professional counselors and their practices in the national health care system, especially in the treatment of clients with substance abuse issues. Stage I of the project collected practitioner level information on providers and aggregate-level client information in order to identify the characteristics of professional counselors, aggregate-level characteristics of the clients with whom they work, and the type of treatments they provided. This goal was accomplished through the first ever-national counselor survey. Stage II of the project focused on a longitudinal client and treatment encounter level study of the incidence and prevalence of client problems served, the nature of the services delivered by professional counselors, and the outcomes of this treatment. The presentation will also demonstrate a unique web-based data management tool used in the project. This unique research tool has the potential to provide cost-effective yet reliable information of the actual practices of health care providers and will serve as the foundation of future ACA-PRN efforts.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• (1) Describe the characteristics of professional counselors across various practice settings.
• (2) Describe the characteristics of clients, their problems and the services they receive.
• (3) Understand the use of web-based data collections systems to collect encounter level information.

Keywords: Mental Health, Substance Abuse

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), American Counseling Association (ACA)
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.