Implementing Social Change: A Qualitative Analysis of Counseling Psychologists’ Engagement in Advocacy

• Published in: The Counseling psychologist Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 154 - 189
• Main Authors: Kozan, Saliha, Blustein, David L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.02.2018; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Advocacy; Content analysis; Counseling psychology; Counselling psychologists; Graduate studies; Positioning; Psychologists; Qualitative research; Social change; Social development; Social education; Social justice; social justice advocacy; clinical practice; counseling psychology; critical psychology
• ISSN: 0011-0000; 1552-3861
• DOI: 10.1177/0011000018756882

In recent years, many counseling psychology training programs in the United States have adopted social justice principles into training. Although previous studies have provided thought-provoking discussions on social justice advocacy, they mostly reflected the voices of psychologists in academia; therefore, the advocacy work of practitioners has been neglected. In order to explore the advocacy experiences of counseling psychologists in practice, we utilized qualitative content analysis to analyze semistructured interviews with 11 practitioners who were trained in social justice-oriented counseling psychology doctoral programs. The findings were clustered under three domains: (a) participants’ development of a social justice orientation, (b) different ways of implementing advocacy in practice, and (c) positioning advocacy in psychology. The interviews depicted resources and challenges with regard to integrating advocacy into practice indicating that counseling psychologists continue to struggle with systemic barriers that limit their advocacy actions. We discuss implications for research, practice, and training in counseling psychology.