The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 607 Sample Surveys were distributed once per quarter, or four times, throughout the fellowship year to active MFP fellows. Alumni fellows who had completed their fellowship year received the survey in June. All surveys were distributed via electronic correspondence using the email on record for each fellow. During the MFP orientation, all fellows were instructed to complete the end-of-fellowship survey as a condition to acceptance of the NBCC MFP enrollment. The demographic and doctoral completion rate data was retrieved from the MFP applications and the surveys captured responses from 54 NBCC MFP cohort members from 2013 through 2018 (Table 1). Procedure First, we ensured that all NBCC MFP fellows had previously offered consent for their feedback and participation in the program to be used in a variety of ways including research activities as evidenced in the “Terms and Conditions of Program Participation” (NBCCF, 2019, p. 7). Next, we collated all MFP fellow demographic data using information found in their MFP applications and from the survey responses (Table 1). Surveys were distributed to active fellows four times a year and to alumni fellows once per year in June. In total, the surveys were sent to 158 fellows (both active and alumni). Authors’ Stance The first author is a 2014 NBCC MFP cohort doctoral fellow alumna and identifies as a Latinx cisgender woman. She is a licensed professional counselor and is also a clinical assistant professor in a CACREP-accredited master’s in clinical mental health counseling program. The second author identifies as an African American cisgender woman and is a licensed professional counselor associate. She serves as the Professional Development Coordinator for NBCCF. Both consulted frequently with regard to collating the descriptive and qualitative data for the manuscript. Data Analysis and Trustworthiness We utilized thematic analysis (Nowell et al., 2017) to categorize the qualitative data culled from one survey question: “In what ways has this scholarship or fellowship been meaningful to you?” Braun and Clarke (2012) suggested that thematic analysis specifically allows for exploration and understanding of “meaning across a data set” to allow the researcher to “see and make sense of collective or shared meanings of experiences” (p. 57). Specifically, we adhered to the following steps in the thematic analytic process. We familiarized ourselves with the data and read through the entirety of the survey questions and responses multiple times and then separated out the short-answer responses to the survey question of focus. We then reviewed each short answer to the survey question in multiple rounds to absorb the content. We initiated the coding process by way of extracting meaning from the survey response phrases, and we utilized qualitative software to aid in the categorization of codes, ultimately developing an initial codebook. Next, we examined the codes to note patterns of connection in order to group data together to generate themes and subthemes. The categorization was added to the revised codebook. We reviewed the themes, then created and compared the codes to the themes to determine coherence and/or if we needed to recategorize. During this quality review phase, as described by Braun and Clark (2012), we asked ourselves critical questions to ensure that themes were not really codes and if there was enough data in the survey responses to support the themes. Then we defined and named our themes to aid in clarity and included relevant participant quotes from the survey responses to illuminate the themes. Finally, we added our findings to our initially written literature review.
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