LGB Counselor Competency

You are invited to take part in a research study about lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) counselor competency gained as a result of studying within your CACREP-accredited or CACREP-equivalent addiction counseling program. The researcher is only inviting current field experience students who have completed all core coursework or graduates within two years of CACREP-accredited or equivalent addiction counseling programs to be in the study. If you do not meet these criteria, you are not eligible to participate in this study. This form is part of a process called “informed consent” to allow you to understand this study before deciding whether to take part. 

This study is being conducted by a researcher named Kelly King, who is a doctoral student at Walden University.  

Background Information:
The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a difference in LGB counselor competency between recent graduates and students of Christian-affiliated and non-religious affiliated CACREP-accredited or equivalent addiction counseling programs. 

Procedures:
This study involves completing an anonymous online survey that will take approximately 10-12 minutes.

Voluntary Nature of the Study:
Research should only be done with those who freely volunteer. So everyone involved will respect your decision to join or not. You will be treated the same at your university whether or not you join the study. If you decide to join the study now, you can still change your mind later. You may stop at any time. The researcher seeks 84 volunteers for this study.

Risks and Benefits of Being in the Study:
Being in this study could involve some risk of the minor discomforts that can be encountered in daily life, such as stress or revealing things that are personal. With the protections in place, this study would pose minimal risk to your wellbeing. I am recruiting participants who may live in different geographical locations across the nation. The NBCC website is provided below if you would like to find a board-certified counselor in your area for support. https://www.nbcc.org/search/counselorfind 

This study offers no direct benefits to individual volunteers. The aim of this study is to benefit society by highlighting potential gaps in multicultural curricula that need to be addressed in order to foster counselor development in this area. The findings of this study may also provide insight into the alignment of the CACREP standards and ACA Code of Ethics in relation to multicultural counseling.

Payment:
Participants will not be paid to participate in this study.  

Privacy:
The researcher is required to protect your privacy. Your identity will be kept anonymous, within the limits of the law. The researcher will not ask for your name, contact information, or any other identifying information at any time. The survey data will be stored on a password protected and encrypted computer, with only the primary researcher and her committee having access to the secured data. Data will be kept for a period of at least 5 years, as required by the university.

Contacts and Questions:
You can ask questions of the researcher by email at kelly.king2@waldenu.edu. If you want to talk privately about your rights as a participant or any negative parts of the study, you can call Walden University’s Research Participant Advocate at  612-312-1210. Walden University’s approval number for this study is 12-23-20-0743559 and it expires on December 22, 2021.

You might wish to retain this consent form for your records. You may ask the researcher or Walden University for a copy at any time using the contact info above.  

Press "Continue" if you consent to participate in this study.