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theses

Youth violence is a major issue throughout this country, particularly with respect to ethnic minority males. There is a critical need for the development of counseling interventions for this population (Guerra & Smith, 2006). The current study developed a manual specifically designed for interventions with at-risk ethnic minority male adolescents attending middle school, who had been referred for behavioral issues, i.e., fighting, violence and aggression, as well as academic difficulties. It utilized data obtained from interviews with ten former group counselors from the Rutgers Somerset Counseling Program. The counselors were primarily alumni or doctoral students from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers University. The qualitative data obtained from interviews were analyzed, utilizing a grounded theory approach (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) to develop themes and suggestions for group interventions and to create the manual describing the structure of group sessions. The interviews addressed all components of the counseling groups, including interactions with other adults in the school; the referral process; group screening; exclusion criteria; the structure of the groups; co-counselor dynamics; building rapport within the group; activities; rules; behavioral management of group sessions; the use of rewards and incentives; and other core topics, such as school and community violence, and gangs. Study participants also provided descriptions of crisis interventions and conflict resolutions conducted within the groups. Interview data were used to construct the Manual for Counseling Groups for At-Risk, Ethnic Minority Male Adolescents. In addition, a number of important themes emerged, including the need for violence prevention interventions for at-risk adolescents; gang prevention interventions; cultural competency in the development of groups for ethnic minority adolescents; the value of providing individual counseling in addition to group counseling; the importance of developing positive relationships with the boys’ families; and the role of group supervision for the counselors. Interviews underscored the value of comprehensive guidelines for work with this population. Implications for future research, program development, policy, counselors, schools, families, and specific implications for training were also discussed. The manual may also be utilized by other programs in schools to provide group counseling interventions for other at-risk adolescent males.

ETD_7033

Psy.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Kaitlin Gicela Gonzales

doi:10.7282/T3WD42PM

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.