Benchmark Attitudes and Beliefs Reflection Paper Assignment Instructions
OVERVIEW
The Standard A.4.b. of the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) 2014 Code of Ethics mandates the following regarding personal values:
“Counselors are aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and avoid imposing values that are inconsistent with counseling goals. Counselors respect the diversity of clients, trainees, and research participants” (ACA, 2014, p. 5).
Therefore, it is important that counselors and counselor trainees spend time identifying their own values, understanding the origin of these values, and honestly owning how personal values may adversely affect the counselor’s ability to work with certain populations or mental illnesses.
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Read and complete the Attitudes & Beliefs Inventory below (see p. 2). When you are finished, go back over the inventory and select three questions you had the strongest reactions to and/or you had the most difficult time answering.
Your paper should be 5-7 pages, (excluding title page, abstract, reference page), written in APA format, including a title page, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and references. Your paper should be well thought out and demonstrate critical thinking, self-evaluation, and practical application. Your paper must include at least 5 scholarly references published within the last 5 years. All sources must be scholarly journal articles outside of the course materials, materials from other classes, and applicable to the counseling profession. No websites or direct quotes. This assignment should be written in 1st person.
Step 2: Divide your paper into the three required headings below and address the following questions within each section:
Reaction
State the 3 questions that evoked the strongest reaction in you, and/or, you found most difficult to answer. Why? What personal value(s) and/or belief(s) did each question seem to contradict or seem to cause some personal incongruence within you?
Response
When, from whom, and how, did you learn this (these) value(s)/belief(s)?
Action
What personal or professional work do you still need to do around this issue?
Step 3: When you have completed your paper, save it as a Microsoft Word document under your name and assignment title (Example: Doe_J_Attitudes and Beliefs_Paper). Submit your paper via the assignment submission link in Canvas and Tevera. If the final paper you submit contains entire sentences or paragraphs that have a high similarity index to other sources, it may indicate either unintentional or intentional plagiarism. You may be contacted by your instructor.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
Attitudes & Beliefs Inventory*
Directions: Using the scale below, rate each item to indicate how comfortable you would be working with this population or problem.
5= Very Comfortable 4= Somewhat Comfortable 3= Comfortable
2= Somewhat Uncomfortable 1= Very Uncomfortable
1. A person with fundamentalist religious beliefs.
2. A woman who says that if she could turn her life over to Christ she would find peace.
3. A person who shows little conscience development, is strictly interested in his/her own advancement, and uses others for personal gain.
4. A gay or lesbian couple wanting to work on conflicts in their relationship.
5. A man who wants to leave his wife and children for the sake of sexual adventures with other women.
6. A woman who has decided to leave her husband and children to gain independence.
7. A woman who has decided to get an abortion but wants to process her feelings around it.
8. A teenager who is having unsafe sex and sees no problem with the behavior.
9. A high school student who is sent to you by his parents because they suspect he is using drugs.
10. A person who is very cerebral and is convinced that feelings are a private matter.
11. A man who believes the best way to discipline his children is through spanking.
12. An interracial couple coming for premarital counseling.
13. A high school student who believes she is a lesbian and wants to discuss how to “come out” to her parents.
14. A gay or lesbian couple wanting to adopt a child.
15. A man who has found a way of cheating the system and getting more than his legal share of public assistance.
16. A woman who comes with her husband for couples counseling while maintaining an extramarital affair.
17. A man who believes internet sex can be a creative way to express sexuality.
18. A couple who believe that sex with multiple partners is okay.
19. A man convicted of pedophilia and court-ordered for counseling.
20. A woman who makes her living as an exotic dancer.
21. A man convicted of domestic violence.
22. A woman whose children have been removed by Child Protective Services.
23. A man recently released from jail after serving a sentence for rape.
24. A man with terminal cancer who wants to discuss stopping all treatment to hasten his death.
25. A woman who believes in an egalitarian marriage.
*Modified from Corey, G., Cory M.S., & Callanan, P. (2011). Issues and ethics in the helping professions, (8th ed.). Brooks/Cole.
