Native American college students in counseling: Results from a large-scale, multisite effectiveness study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Higher Education Studies
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Limited research exists on counseling effectiveness for Native American college students.
• Native American students face unique mental health and academic challenges in higher education.
• Understanding therapeutic outcomes for this population is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine counseling effectiveness on psychological and academic distress for Native American college students.
• To compare distress levels and change rates between Native American and White college students in counseling.
• To provide insights into the therapeutic outcomes for treatment-seeking Native American students.

Main Methods:

• Utilized naturalistic data from a practice-research network (2015-2019).
• Employed hierarchical linear modeling to analyze psychological and academic distress.
• Compared Native American clients (N=9,621 for psychological, N=9,643 for academic distress) with White clients.

Main Results:

• All clients showed significant distress reduction during treatment.
• Native American and White clients started with similar psychological distress levels.
• Native American clients experienced greater and faster reductions in psychological distress compared to White clients.
• Native American clients had higher initial and final academic distress but similar reduction rates and amounts as White clients.

Conclusions:

• Counseling is effective for Native American college students, demonstrating significant positive response.
• Native American students show a distinct pattern of improvement in psychological distress.
• Findings highlight the need for culturally informed support and further research into academic distress interventions for Native American students.