A study of legal issues encountered by school counselors and perceptions of their preparedness to respond to legal challenges - Special issue: legal and ethical issues in school counseling

Professional School Counseling, Oct, 2002 by Mary A. Hermann

Relationship of Variables to Perceived Degree of Preparedness to Respond to Legal Issues

This study sought to determine whether certain variables were related to the perceived degree of preparedness of school counselors to respond to legal issues. These variables included taking a course in ethics or legal issues in counseling, recently completing continuing education in ethics or legal issues, level of education (master's degree, specialist degree, or Ph.D.), years of experience as a school counselor, licensure as a professional counselor, and certification by NBCC. Independent t tests were used to determine if significant differences existed in the participants' perceived degree of preparedness to respond to each legal issue based on these variables. Differences were considered significant at the .01 level. The results of these analyses are presented in Tables 3 through 6.

According to this study, school counselors who recently participated in continuing education on ethics or legal issues felt better prepared to determine whether to report suspected child abuse, respond to pressure to reveal confidential information, and to determine whether a student was a danger to self or others. This study also found that participants who took a course in ethics or legal issues felt better prepared to respond to being subpoenaed to appear as a witness in a legal proceeding. Participants who obtained state licensure as professional counselors indicated that they felt better prepared to respond to pressure to reveal confidential information and to determine if a student is a danger to others. Participants who were certified by the NBCC felt better prepared to determine if a student was a danger to others. Level of education and years of experience had no significant relationship to school counselors' perceptions of preparedness to manage legal issues.

Discussion

Determining whether students are suicidal is the legal issue that participants reported encountering most frequently. This finding supports the research of King, Price, Telljohann, and Wahl (1999) who reported that 74% of the respondents in their study indicated that at least one student had attempted suicide at the high school where the counselor was employed while the counselor was working there.

The school counselors surveyed in this study felt most prepared to determine whether to report suspected child abuse and to determine whether a client was suicidal. Counselors felt least prepared to respond to a subpoena to appear as a witness in a legal proceeding. It is noteworthy that participants encountered the issues of determining whether a client was suicidal and reporting suspected child abuse most frequently, and they encountered having to respond to a subpoena to appear as a witness in a legal proceeding least frequently. These results seem to indicate that school counselors feel better prepared to deal with legal issues that they encounter on a regular basis.

The finding that the participants felt more prepared to determine whether to report suspected child abuse than any other issue on the survey also supports the findings of Davis and Mickelson (1994) who reported that school counselors responded in a legally appropriate manner to survey items related to mandatory child abuse reporting. Conversely, the finding that 72% of the school counselors in this study reported that they felt prepared to determine whether students are suicidal does not support the work of Rawls (1997) and King et al. (1999). Rawls noted that school counselors experienced difficulty with legal issues such as counseling suicidal students. King et al. found that only 38% of high school counselors felt that they could determine if a student was at risk for suicide. This discrepancy merits additional investigation.