Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

Sub-Department

Counselor Education

First Advisor

Donna Gibson

Abstract

Due to the dialectical dilemma between meeting the demands of the managed health care industry through the adherence to the medical model while promoting an emphasis on wellness, the counseling profession does not promote a consistent definition of sexuality. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach from a constructivist lens, this study was conducted to examine the construct "sexuality" and "sexuality counseling" from counselors' perspectives. One synchronous online focus group and two online individual interviews were conducted with counselors predominantly in the Southeastern United States. Themes from the data include: Sexuality is multi-dimensional; sexuality is developmental; sexuality counseling is dialectical; and sexuality training in counseling is insufficient. Implications of these findings for counselors, counselor education, training, and supervision are discussed.

Rights

© 2013, Wenndy Dupkoski Mallicoat

Share

COinS