11 TPC Digest 11 TPC Digest Read full article and references: Kalkbrenner, M. T., Zackery, S. L., & Zhao, Y. (2024). Factorial invariance of scores on the Inner Wealth Inventory: A nationwide sample of adults in the United States. The Professional Counselor, 14(2), 198–211. doi: 10.15241/mtk.14.2.198 As a normative sample, U.S. adults comprise a diverse group of people who come from very different walks of life. In fact, there are a number of social, economic, and cultural differences between U.S. adults with different gender identities, ethnoracial identities, helpseeking histories (whether or not someone has attended one or more sessions of counseling), income, and levels of education. In other words, the meaning of IW might differ between U.S. adults with different social, economic, and/or cultural backgrounds. Factorial invariance testing is a statistical method for investigating the extent to which the meaning of test scores remains equal between different subgroups of a larger sample. In this study, we found that the meaning of IW remained the same between U.S. adults with different gender identities, ethnoracial identities, help-seeking histories, income, and levels of education. Now that scores on the IWI have been normed with a national sample of U.S. adults, counselors can use it as one way to measure their clients’ levels of IW. This is an important implication for practice because showing that treatments work is becoming more and more important in many counseling and health care settings. Counselors are expected to demonstrate that their clients are getting better, and the IWI can help them do that. For example, the Nurtured Heart Approach is a comprehensive intervention for increasing IW. Professional counselors can use the IWI to track the extent to which the Nurtured Heart Approach is associated with increases in their clients’ IW. More specifically, counselors can administer the IWI to clients before, during, and after treatment and potentially use the results as one way to demonstrate progress. Michael T. Kalkbrenner, PhD, NCC, is a full professor at New Mexico State University. Stephanie L. Zackery is a doctoral student at New Mexico State University. Yuxuan Zhao, MEd, is a doctoral candidate at New Mexico State University. Correspondence may be addressed to Michael T. Kalkbrenner, Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, New Mexico State University, 1780 E. University Ave., Las Cruces, NM 88003, mkalk001@nmsu.edu.
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