The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 3 294 and dependability of the study was assisted using an external auditor and peer briefer. Sickels served as the auditor throughout the study, reviewing interview transcripts, data collection, data analysis, themes, and overall processes, procedures, and coherence of the study (Flynn & Korcuska, 2018; Hays & Singh, 2023). Nice and Sickels met face-to-face or by phone to engage in peer-debriefing during all major points of the study, including Nice’s positionality, thoughts, emotions, and reactions to the procedures of the study. Data Analysis Data was analyzed by following Pietkiewicz and Smith’s (2014) guidelines of data analysis. The process involves three stages: immersion, transformation, and connection. This process began with Nice listening to recordings of each interview to review the content as a whole and to mark any additional observations. Nice and the research team manually transcribed each interview. All transcribed interviews were reviewed by Nice concurrently with recordings to ensure accuracy of the transcripts and to create a deeper immersion into the data. During this process any new insights or observations were recorded in field notes and a reflexivity journal (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014). The rest of the research team also engaged in this three-stage process by reviewing each team member’s recordings and processing them in team meetings. Research team members participated in consensus coding team meetings after every two or three interviews, resulting in a total of five meetings. Prior to meetings team members all examined the materials for coding and submitted them to Nice. During meetings Nice led the discussions about each participant interview and the research team discussed how and why they arrived at specific codes. Intercoder reliability was maintained by Sickels, who examined each initial coding from all research members as well as the coding results from consensus coding meetings (Cofie et al., 2022). Following IPA qualitative methodology, Nice and the research team reviewed and interpreted their notes regarding the transcripts in order to transform them into emergent themes using both hand coding and ATLAS.ti coding software (J. A. Smith, 2024). These initial themes were linked together by their conceptual similarities, which developed a thematic hierarchy (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014). Finally, Nice and the research team created a narrative account of each theme, which included direct quotes from the participants. The interpretations of these emergent themes and the overall interview content were reviewed by Nice and the research team in order to reach agreement on the final, distinct themes. Afterward, Sickels conducted an independent cross-analysis on the interview transcripts, notes, and emergent and final themes to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the final themes. Results The data analysis process using IPA qualitative methods resulted in four distinct themes. These themes were identified and designated based on the meaning related with professional counselors’ experiences working with emerging adult clients. It should be noted that anxiety/stress was initially considered as a fifth theme; however, further coding and team meetings concluded that anxiety/ stress is grounded within the other four themes and was not an independent distinct theme. Hence, the following four phenomenological themes emerged: parental pressures, self-discovery, transitions, and dating and attachment. The results of this interpretative phenomenological study are outlined in the following section. Theme 1: Parental Pressures This theme indicates the expectations, criticisms, and imposed beliefs that emerging adult clients often process in the counseling session. Participants expressed that much of their experiences
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