A Q Methodology Investigation of School Counselors’ Beliefs and Feelings in Reporting Suspected Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT

School counselors can be influenced by a wide variety of beliefs and emotions when reporting suspected child sexual abuse (CSA) including worry, fear, sadness, depression, helplessness, anger, and distrust of child protective services. These beliefs and emotions can keep school counselors from reporting suspected CSA despite their duties as mandated reporters. We sought to uncover patterns of school counselors’ (N = 85) shared beliefs and emotions that can impact their decision making in reporting suspected CSA. Q methodology allowed us to reveal common profiles of school counselors’ viewpoints on reporting CSA to inform school counseling practice and training. Our data analysis revealed two profiles representing distinct patterns of school counselor viewpoints: worry about consequences and knowledge gap. School counselors in the worry about consequences factor felt that the potential negative consequences of their reports for the child and themselves impacted their reporting process. School counselors in the knowledge gap factor believed their lack of knowledge of signs of CSA, school procedures, and school counseling ethical codes influenced their reporting of CSA. School counselors should reflect on their beliefs and emotions that may prevent reporting, communicate and collaborate with child protective services, and seek support and mentorship as necessary.

KEYWORDS:

• School counseling
• child sexual abuse
• mandated reporting
• Q methodology
• beliefs and emotions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (i.e., the University of Missouri-St. Louis IRB and the U.S. National Research Act – PL 93-348) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Phillip L. Waalkes

Phillip L. Waalkes, Department of Education Sciences and Professional Programs, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; Daniel A. DeCino, Division of Counseling and Psychology in Education, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD; Jaimie Stickl Haugen, School of Education, St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, NY; Emily Woodruff, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Department, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH. Phillip L. Waalkes, Ph.D., NCC, ACS, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Daniel A. DeCino

Daniel A. DeCino, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of South Dakota and former 6-8 School Counselor in Colorado.

Jaimie Stickl Haugen

Jaimie Stickl Haugen, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, ACS is a Clinical Assistant Professor at William & Mary in the Department of School Psychology and Counselor Education.

Emily Woodruff

Emily Woodruff is a Clinical Mental Health Counseling Student in her second semester of Internship with Antioch University. She is currently providing level 1 and level 2 care for clients at an addiction clinic in Madison, Wisconsin.