TPC Journal-V6, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 4 384 using CBCs had an established procedure for how to use the results. Ultimately, since few resources are available to assist in these decision-making processes, it would be important for programs to seek university counsel. For example, it would be important to seek legal counsel when deciding how requirements and standards should read on program Web sites, how to use the results, and how to inform students about the use of the CBC results. It also is important to consider other related liability issues such as faculty subjectivity. Previous research indicated faculty subjectivity may interfere with gatekeeping fidelity (Brear & Dorrian, 2010). In the current study, only 13 participants reported their program had an established procedure for deciding about the non-admission of applicants based on CBC results. When procedures are not in place, there may be a greater potential for phenomena such as the empathy veil effect, leniency effect or likability effect. Such phenomena may prompt some faculty to look the other way if not held accountable to exercise a specific policy. This research also has implications for counseling students. Given that not all programs execute CBCs, students may not understand the consequences of their legal violations until seeking licensure. Currently, 17 state licensing boards require CBCs and all states ask applicants to attest to criminal violations (ACA, 2010). There is potential for a student to get through his or her training program and be ineligible for licensure due to their criminal background. A need exists to consider how CBCs may be used to help students gatekeep themselves and be more conscious of barriers that may ultimately interfere with their professional goals. Limitations and Areas for Future Research This study has five basic limitations. First, the sample was obtained from program contacts of CACREP-accredited master’s counselor education programs. This approach omitted programs that were not CACREP-accredited. Therefore, generalizability of the results is limited to CACREP- accredited programs. Further, this study did not delineate whether the programs were housed in private or public institutions. Future research focused on investigating all professional counseling programs would be beneficial. The third limitation is that volunteers may have answered the survey questions differently than those members of the population who did not agree to participate (70%). The fourth limitation is associated with the survey being a self-report measure; some participants may have provided responses considered to be socially desirable. Even though the participants were informed in advance that their responses would be kept anonymous, they may have responded in a manner that was not representative of their true feelings or knowledge. The final limitation is related to instrumentation. The findings could have been expanded upon by including questions on the survey about consequences programs have experienced when using or not using CBCs. For example, have any programs been sued for using or not using CBCs? Given the minimal amount of research in this area, there are multiple directions for future research. One suggestion is to qualitatively explore programs that have used CBCs for several years to get a more thorough understanding of how their processes have evolved. This may help programs understand the elements to consider when using CBCs as part of the screening and gatekeeping processes. It also may support programs in understanding how to protect themselves from liability concerns related to using CBCs. Another future study may involve surveying doctoral-level counseling programs to examine differences across training levels. Further research could examine student perspectives of the use of CBCs. It might be possible that students would welcome the use of CBCs at the program level so they are aware of legal standards at the start of pursuing a professional counselor license.