TPC-Journal-V1-Issue1

The Professional Counselor \ Volume 1, Issue 1 17 calculated. Because multiple bivariate correlations were being conducted, a more stringent alpha level of .01 was used. There was a significant negative relationship between social distance and Authoritarianism ( r (186) = -.52, p < .01) and social distance and Social Restrictiveness ( r (186) = -.64, p < .01). There was a significant positive relationship between social distance and Benevolence ( r (186) = .51, p < .01) and social distance and Community Mental Health Ideology ( r (186) = .60, p < .01). Discussion Previous researchers have examined social distance attitudes of mental health professionals and trainees with samples of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, but not professional counselors. In addition, researchers had not examined simultaneously the attitudes and desired social distance of students. Both the mental health professional group and the mental health trainee group included professional counselors, a group previously excluded from this research. Authors had suggested that those associated with the mental health field hold the same social distance attitudes towards adults with mental illness as the general population (Lauber et al., 2004; Nordt et al., 2006). Results of the present study suggested that non-mental health trainees and professionals desired more social distance than those associated with the mental health field. This implies that members of the general population hold more negative attitudes toward those with mental illness than mental health professionals and trainees. These results are encouraging and imply that training programs and experience might have a positive effect on reducing social distance towards adults with mental illness. Regarding gender and social distance, a consistent finding in previous research (Marie & Miles, 2008; Phelan & Basow, 2007) suggested that women desired less social distance than men from those diagnosed with mental illness. Results from this study are consistent with those findings. Since mental illness stigma can be as damaging as the symptoms (Feldman & Crandall, 2007), professional counselors can advocate for adults with mental illness in order to lessen stigma. These messages can be shared with the general population through national groups such as the National Alliance for the Mentally IlI and the National Mental Health Association, as well as through international programs such as the World Health Organization and NBCC International’s Mental Health Facilitator Program. Further, professional counselors might broach the topic of social distance with their clients, as sharing thoughts and feelings related to discrimination as a result of stigma might be therapeutic for those who are dealing with the phenomenon. Professional orientation was of particular interest in this study. As counselors come from distinct training programs that largely, but not exclusively emphasize developmental perspectives and strength-based orientations (Ivey & Ivey, 1998; Ivey et al., 2005; Ivey & Van Hesteren, 1990), how this subgroup compared to other disciplines was of interest. If there were noteworthy differences in the ways in which professional counselors viewed adults with mental illness, for example, results could serve as an indication that counselor training is indeed unique in the way that professional counselors view clients, as the aforementioned literature has suggested. Findings suggested that professional counselors and psychologists desired less social distance than both social workers and non-mental health professionals. Despite distinguishing aspects of counselor training (i.e., developmental, strength- based orientation), however, there were no significant differences in attitudes of professional counselors and counselor trainees when compared to those in the psychology field. The lack of difference between counselors and psychologists may be attributed to similarities in training. Alternatively, though, it may be that the types of people drawn to counseling and psychology programs are more similar than different, and that the similarities might not be based on training. Social work trainees and professionals and non-mental health professionals desired significantly more social distance. This might imply that there are some fundamental differences in the training and coursework of social workers as compared to other professional orientations. For example, it is possible that the focus on macrosystems, more uniquely the purview of social work, leads to an external orientation to change relative to an individual or microsystem approach more common to counseling and psychology. Thus, this focus on larger systems might be a differentiating factor related to proximity to persons with mental illness. Conversely, training and coursework might not be differentiating factors related to social distance. Perhaps students already possess social distance preferences when they enter into mental health training programs.