Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Education

Supervisor

Brown, Jason

Abstract

Individuals with low income may experience a greater need for mental health services due to the substantial life challenges and stressors they experience. However, more research needs to explore what has been effective in improving services for this population. The present study addressed this gap through counsellors’ perspectives to identify what has been helpful when working with low-income populations. Counsellors completed an interview regarding their personal and professional experiences working with low-income populations, answering the question, “What have you found to be the most helpful aspects of counselling with clients facing low income?”. Participants then completed a sorting task using the responses from the interview. The sorted responses were analyzed using Group Concept Mapping. The results indicated six concepts: accessibility to counselling services, providing advocacy and resources, addressing basic needs, therapeutic approaches, therapeutic relationship, and understanding barriers. These results were compared to the literature, and recommendations were made regarding counselling and research.

Summary for Lay Audience

Research has shown that individuals with low income may experience increased stress and challenges in different areas of life, which can negatively influence mental health outcomes. Therefore, individuals with low income may experience a greater need for mental health services to help address and cope with the challenges that they may face. Prior research has addressed the unique needs that low-income populations may have within the mental health field, but little research has explored what has been found to work when supporting this population within the counselling space. The current study addressed this gap in the research through counsellors’ perspectives of what they have found to be helpful in the counselling process when working with clients with low income. Counsellors completed an interview asking about their experiences working with clients with low income. Counsellors were then asked to complete a sorting activity. Counsellors were provided the responses of one or two of the interview questions and were asked to sort those responses into groups of similar themes. The current study used the sorted responses from the question “What have you found to be the most helpful aspects of counselling with clients facing low income?” for data analysis. Data analysis was completed using concept mapping through the system Group Wisdom (Concept Systems, 2024). Concept mapping plots the responses on a graph based on how often responses were grouped together by participants. Those plotted closer together were typically grouped together and those plotted further away from each other were less likely to be grouped together. A total of six concepts were identified: accessibility to counselling services, providing advocacy and resources, addressing basic needs, therapeutic approaches, therapeutic relationship, and understanding barriers. These concepts identified helpful practices within counselling when working with clients with low income. These concepts provide recommendations for how counsellors can improve their practice to help address the unique needs of this population within the counselling space.

Download

Share

COinS