Accessing Counselling Service and Achieving Career Goals for First-Generation Women University Students in Atlantic Canada
Keywords:
counselling, career goals, first-generation, women, university, students, atlantic canada, canadaAbstract
This study is an institutional ethnography investigating whether university support services for undergraduate women students who are first generation in their family to attend are adequately supported in their transition to a career. Two groups were interviewed at two New Brunswick campuses who had experiences with university-based health and counseling services: one group of six students accessed health services primarily and were treated for their symptoms with anti-depressants; the second group of six students accessed counselling services after a number of women counselors were hired who focused on women-centered and strength-based counselling. The groups differed in their stated satisfaction with the two forms of service, their efficacy as students in completing their programs, their self-confidence and ability to achieve ongoing objectives in their career trajectories.
References
Ad Hoc Working Group on Women, Mental Health, Substance Use, and Addictions, Women, Mental Health and Addictions in Canada: An Overview. Retrieved May 8, 2006, www.cwhn.ca.
Auclair, R. et al. (2008). Transitions: Research paper 2 – First-generation students: A promising concept? Montreal, The Canada Millenium Scholarship Foundation.
Benton, S. A. et al. (2003). Changes in counseling center client problems across 13 years. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Vol. 34(1), 66-72.
Bodnar, A., & Reimer, M. (1979). The Organization of Social Services and its Implications for the Mental Health of Immigrant Women in Toronto. Toronto, Secretary of State Report.
Burwell, R., & Chen, C. P. (2006). Applying the principles and techniques of solution-focused therapy to career counselling. Counselling Psychology Quarterly Vol. 19(2), 189-203.
Canadian Campus Survey 2004. (2005). Adalf, E. M. et al. Toronto, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Cantano, V. (2009). Reserving higher education for the elite. C.A.U.T. Bulletin. Vol. 56(5).
CAUT. (2009). Provincial budgets earn mixed reviews. Bulletin. Vol. 56(41).
Choy, S. P. (2001). Students whose parents did not go to college: Postsecondary access, persistence, and attainment. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Coogan, P. A., & Chen, C. P. (2007). Career development and counseling for women: Connecting theories to practice. Counselling Psychology Quarterly. Vol.204(2), 191-204.
Devlin, M. (2006). Solution-focused work in individual academic development. International Journal for Academic Development. Vol. 11(2), 101-110.
Evan, K. M., et al. (2005). Feminism and feminist therapy: Lessons from the past and hopes for the future. Journal of Counselling and Development. Vol.83, 269-277.
FNBFA. (2009). New Brunswick to lose millions in Canada Social Transfer cash? Reflections. Vol. 32(1).
Fieldnotes, 2006-2009, from the author’s research indicates that quotes were taken from interview transcripts on a given date with administrators, counselors and students from the SSHRC Research Development Initiative grant, “The University to Work Transition for Young Women in New Brunswick” and the New Brunswick Innovation Fund.
Fuller, R. (2007). What we know about the relationship between counseling and student retention. UNB Counselling Services, University of New Brunswick.
Grayson, P. J. (1997). Academic achievement of first-generation students in a Canadian university. Research in Higher Education. Vol. 38(6), 659-676.
Harvard Mental Health Letter (2006). Solution-focused therapy.
Lehmann, W. (2007). “I just didn’t feel like I fit in”: The role of habitus in university drop out decisions. CJHE. Vol. 37(2), 89-110.
LaFrance, M. N. (2007). A bitter pill: A discursive analysis of medicalized accounts of depression. Journal of Health Psychology. Vol. 12(1), 127-140.
Looker, D. E., & Thiessen, V. (2008). The second chance system: Results from the three cycles of Youth in Transition Survey, Ottawa, Human Resources and Social Development Canada.
Luyten, P. B., et al. (2006). Depression research and treatment: Are we skating to where the puck is going to be? Clinical Psychology Review. Vol.26(8), 985-999.
Magolda, M. B. B. (2008). Three elements of self-authorship. Journal of College Student Development Vol. 49(4), 269-284.
McMullen, L. M. (2003). Depressed women’s constructions of the deficient self. In J. Stoppard & L. M. McMullen (Eds.), Situating sadness: Women and depression in social context (17-38). New York: New York University Press.
Miller, J. B. (1976). Toward a New Psychology of Women. New York: Beacon Press.
Miller, J. B. (1991). The Development of Women's Sense of Self, in J.V. Jordon (Ed.), Women's Growth in Connection. (11-26). New York: Guilford Press.
Murff, S. H. (2005). The impact of stress on academic success in college students. The ABNF Journal. September - October, 102-104.
National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Nunez, A., & Cuccaro-Alamin, S. (1998). First generation students: Undergraduates whose parents never enrolled in postsecondary education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
OSDUHS. (2008). LeMar, J. et al. Ontario Public Health Association. Pascarella E.T., et al. (2004). First-generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 75(3), 250- 284.
Peden, A. R., et al. (2001). Preventing depression in high-risk college women: A report of an 18-month follow-up. Journal of American College Health. Vol.49(6):299-306.
Pereira, A. M. (2008). First-generation students. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://fye.mcmaster.ca/firstgen.html
Reimer, M. & Bodnar, A (1979). The Organization of Social Services and its Implications for the Mental Health of Immigrant Women in Toronto. Toronto, Secretary of State Report.
Reimer, M. (Ed.). (2004). Inside Corporate U: Women in the Academy Speak Out. Toronto: Sumach Press.
Reimer, M., & Mueller, A. (2006). Accessing the transition to careers for female undergraduates in the restructured university in New Brunswick. Canadian and International Education. Vol.35(1), 81-89.
Reimer, M. & Ste-Marie, M. (2011). “Denied Access: The Focus on Medicalized Support Services and “Depressed” Women Students in the Corporate University”, Resources for Feminist Research/Documentation Sur La Rechurche Feministe, Vol. 33 (3 & 4), 137-159
Ruddick, F. (2008). Hope, optimism and expectation. Mental Health Practice. Vol. 12(1), 33-35.
Schmidt, P. (2003). Academe’s Hispanic future: The nation’s largest minority group faces big obstacles in higher education, and colleges struggle to find the right ways to help. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Vol 50(14).
Smith, D. E. (2005). Institutional ethnography: A sociology for people. New York: Alta Mira Press.
Ste-Marie, M. (2007). Denied Access: Women Students Resist Construction of Themselves as Depressed in the Corporate University. (Honours thesis in Sociology, St. Thomas University, 2007).
Ste-Marie, M. and Reimer, M. (2011). “Denied Access: The Focus on Medicalized Support Services and “Depressed” Women Students in the Corporate University”, Resources for Feminist Research/Documentation Sur La Rechurche Feministe, Vol. 33 (3 & 4), 137-159.
Stoppard, J. & McMullen. L.M. (Eds) (2003). Situating sadness: Women and depression in social context. New York and London: New York University Press.
Striplin, J. J. (1999). Facilitating transfer for first-generation community college students. ERIC Digest.
Terenzini, P. T., et al. (1996). First-generation college students: Characteristics, experiences, and cognitive development. Research in Higher Education. Vol. 37(1), 1-22.
Thayer, P. B. (2000). Retention of students from first generation and low income backgrounds. Opportunity Outlook, 2-8.
Turk, J. L. (Ed.). (2000). The Corporate Campus: Commercialization and the Dangers to Canada’s Colleges and Universities. Toronto: James Lorimer and Company Ltd.
Tym, C., et al. (2004). First-generation college students: A literature review. Texas, Research and Analytical Services.
Vargas, J. H. (2004). College Knowledge: Addressing Information Barriers to College. Boston, MA, College Access Services: The Education Resources Institute (TERI).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
