Volume_5_Issue_3_Digest

10 TPC Digest A Study of School Counselors’ Shared Attitudes and Beliefs Diane M. Stutey Sibling Abuse In accordance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, the American School Counselor Association Ethical Standards, and the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, school counselors must report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to child protective services or law enforcement. According to a review of the literature and an examination of the training that school counselors receive, the focus was consistently on the abuse of a child by an adult. However, abuse of children by adults may not be as prevalent as other forms of abuse against children. A less commonly explored form of family violence is sibling abuse. In the past, sibling abuse was considered a normal rite of passage that most children experience and was often misidentified as sibling rivalry. School counselors are in a position to advocate for all children and protect them from harm; yet one source of harm of which counseling practitioners and educators may be unaware stems from aggression between siblings, which can become abusive. The combination of possible normalizing attitudes toward sibling aggression coupled with a lack of training and guidelines on identification and intervention is problematic. A lack of awareness and professional training standards about sibling abuse might ultimately result in counselors not reporting it as abuse, leading to long-term psychological harm for children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine and gain further insight into and awareness of current school counselors’ attitudes and beliefs about sibling abuse. Based on a review of the literature, it also was imperative to understand whether there might be exterior influences impacting school counselors’ ability to work with students experiencing sibling abuse. The two overarching questions for this study were the following: (1) How do school counselors describe their attitudes and beliefs about sibling abuse? (2) What contexts or situations have influenced or affected school counselors’ attitudes and beliefs about sibling abuse? Data were gathered through semistructured interviews conducted with eight school counselors in one Western state. Seven themes emerged supporting school counselors’ perceptions of their role to respond to sibling abuse and their beliefs about factors contributing to sibling abuse. Findings revealed that sibling abuse is not something school counselors often encounter due to what they perceive as a normalization of sometimes aggressive interactions between siblings. While participants were able to draw upon their knowledge of child abuse to advocate for students experiencing sibling abuse, a need was revealed for more specific training, ways to efficiently collaborate with others and systemic change in order to advocate for all students. Recommendations on ways to advocate for children and adolescents experiencing sibling abuse are offered for counselor educators, counselors-in-training and counseling practitioners, particularly school counselors. Diane M. Stutey, NCC, is a Lecturer at Clemson University. Correspondence may be addressed to Diane M. Stutey, 322 Tillman Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, dstutey@clemson.edu . The author expresses her deepest gratitude to Dr. Jennifer Murdock and Dr. Heather Helm for guiding her through the dissertation research process while she was a doctoral candidate at the University of Northern Colorado, and those who willingly participated in this study. In addition, special thanks to the Graham Fund Grant that partially funded this research study.