The Professional Counselor | Volume 13, Issue 2 100 conceptualize and work with male and female survivors of TDV. Using a qualitative design, we utilized case vignettes to examine how counseling students conceptualize, assess, and treat TDV. The overarching research question was: How do counseling students conceptualize and propose treatment for the experience of TDV in both female and male clients? Method Data Collection After receiving IRB approval, the primary researcher, Kelly Emelianchik-Key, recruited a convenience sample of participants over 6 months in three counselor education programs. Emails were sent to the clinical placement coordinators to request the dissemination of the study details to their students. The three clinical placement coordinators agreed and sent the email with links to a Survey Monkey for students 2 years or more into their academic studies. The students received an email containing study information, a link to the electronic consent forms, demographic questions, and a case scenario with open-response questions. After completing the consent and demographic form, participants were randomly assigned one of two client case vignettes. The scenarios were identical vignettes (located in the Appendix) containing details of a struggling teen client experiencing TDV. The only difference in cases was the identified gender of the client. One case had a male client with a female partner while the other had a female client with a male partner. Counseling students were then asked questions about the vignette to better understand their clinical impressions of the client, a diagnosis (if warranted), any concerns regarding the case, and treatment ideas and considerations. The case vignettes and written responses were collected and analyzed until saturation was achieved (Braun & Clarke, 2021). To assess data saturation, we evaluated the data for completeness and at specific intervals of the data analysis process. Data saturation was met with 45 participants, with 22 responses to the female case and 23 responses to the male case. Participants The inclusion criteria for this study required that participants 1) were current students in a CACREP-accredited counseling program (any specialization) and 2) had completed all programrelated content coursework, with only clinical field placements remaining. Of the 45 participants, eight self-identified as male and 37 self-identified as female. The participants’ degree track specializations were as follows: clinical mental health counseling (n = 21; 51%), school counseling (n = 8; 17%), rehabilitation counseling (n = 6; 13%), marriage and family therapy (n = 2; 4%), doctoral counselor education students (n = 3; 6%), and non–degree seeking students who already held a master’s degree in counseling (n = 3; 6%). All students were either enrolled in a clinical experience or had completed their clinical experiences. Participants ranged from 21 to 52 years of age, with a mean of 26.8. We did not collect data on participants’ race/ethnicity or sexual orientation in the demographic form, as it was not a variable of consideration in our study. Procedure In the present study, we aimed to understand how counseling students conceptualize clients experiencing TDV while considering differences in approach based on client gender. We used a qualitative case vignette design with a deductive approach to better understand gender-based assumptions, myths, or stigmas that may affect counseling students’ conceptualization and approach to treating TDV. The vignette design allows for assessing attitudes, values, norms, and perceptions regarding sensitive social science issues in qualitative research (Hughes, 1998). It may also be beneficial in exploring topics such as gender equality, gender norms, gender discrimination, drug use, mental illness, and emotional and behavioral difficulties (de Macedo et al., 2015). The case vignettes were
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