Journal of Religion and Health, Vo123, No. 3, Fall 1984
Health Counseling Competencies oNeeded by the Minister WAYNE E. WYLIE A B S T R A C T : The purpose of this study was to characterize current health counseling practices of the Church of Christ minister and to identify areas of needed health counseling competencies which should be addressed during professional preparation of the minister. The subjects who made up the sample for this study came from the population of active local ministers of the Churches of Christ who resided in the states of Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Specifically, it was found that the Church of Christ minister is most frequently called upon to offer counsel in the health-related areas of marital problems, patient counseling, death education, alcohol problems, drug use or abuse, and aging, respectively. It was also found that the majority of the ministers surveyed felt that their training for the ministry had not adequately prepared them to offer health counsel. The majority of the sample indicated that all health topics listed on the questionnaire should be required during initial preparation for the ministry. Other findings were also noted.
Introduction The concept that health education should be a responsibility shared jointly in the home, school, and community has long been advocated within the health profession. Therefore, it is interesting to study the graphic model that Fodor and Dalis formulated to depict such a shared responsibility for health education.1 This model, entitled Individual Health as Influenced by HomeSchool Community, depicted the utilization of all available resources and agencies to attain the desired health education outcomes and solutions of health problems. While the forces of the home were illustrated as the primary and fundamental influences upon the development of the individual, the school and community forces were shown to supplement those of the home. However, the school and community forces depended upon various agencies and subgroups within their structure to make a contribution to the development of the person's well-being. Specifically, the model listed churches, official health agencies, parent-teacher associations, private industries, professional societies, service clubs, voluntary health agencies, and youth groups as community resources and agencies to use in promoting health education. With this concept of sharing in mind, the health educator should strive to include every possible resource available to meet the health education needs of the people. One ally within the community that could be better used to provide health education is the local church. Although the church was the first cornAssistant Professor, Department of Health and Physical Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 237
9 1984 Institutes of Religion and Health
238
Journal of Religion and Health
munity resource mentioned in Fodor and Dalis's model, little has been done to use such a resource fully within the community health arena.
Review of the literature It has been suggested that since the church is an influential part of many people's lives, it would seem appropriate to extend health education to the church setting. 2 The review of the literature also revealed that the minister is in a strategic position to offer health-related information and counseling to the community. 3 Church members have come to expect help in health-related problems from church leaders. 4 It has been stated that the church should help prevent alcoholism, crime, sexual promiscuity, and "evil of every form" to the limit of its ability, s Research has indicated that the minister is being asked to counsel more and more in health-related areas. ~ Therefore, church leaders, especially ministers, have become a population that has the potential to affect health knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of great numbers of people as a result of their profession. Even though more and more of the minister's time is spent in health counseling situations, literature indicates that the curricula of seminary programs have changed very little since they were designed. ~Consequently, the minister has not been prepared to respond to many of the people's personal health needs. Emphasis within the seminary programs has been placed on doctrine and philosophy, while formal health education has been ignored. Past studies have been consistent in revealing that the majority of ministers surveyed felt their seminary preparation for the type of counseling they were most frequently asked to do was inadequate, s Virkler concIuded from his study: There is a need for periodic assessment of the counseling demands made upon ministers, and for developing a seminary counseling curriculum that reflects those needs. 9 As the review of the literature demonstrates, the minister represents a great potential for aiding the health professional if appropriate training is provided. Thus the dilemma: an excellent opportunity to expand the community health program through the church setting but, alas, another population in the position to provide valuable health information if only it possessed such a competency.
Purpose of the study The purpose of the study was to characterize current health counseling practices of the minister and to identify areas of needed health counseling competencies that should be addressed during the minister's professional preparation. Thus, the study was concerned with identifying those health com-
Wayne E. Wylie
239
petencies which, if developed, would enable that minister to become a better health educator and counselor within the church domain.
Method of procedure The study was limited to active Church of Christ ministers who resided in the states of Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. These states were selected because they contained the largest population of Church of Christ ministers and Church of Christ ministerial training sites. A random, proportional stratified sampling technique was used to select ministers to participate in the study. A questionnaire was designed for use in the study. A jury made up of four health professionals, three full-time Church of Christ ministers, and four academic or administrative personnel employed by Church of Christsupported colleges or universities provided critical, constructive evaluation of this instrument. Three revisions were made. The final form of the questionnaire, which consisted of 17 items, was mailed to the sample. A total of three mailings yielded a response from 137 ministers. However, only 108 questionnaires were used because 29 were too incomplete to be included in the preparation of the data. In addition to simple response percentages, the statistical procedures of Kendall's coefficient of concordance, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and chi-square were used in the analysis of the data. An alpha level of .05 was used.
Findings The random, proportional stratified sampling technique yielded a sample with a mean preaching experience of 17.6 years. The mean age of the ministers was 41.9 years, with a range from 23 to 68 years. Approximately 68 percent of the ministers served congregations in communities of 30,000 population or fewer. The majority, 64.8 percent, of the ministers served congregations totaling 250 members or fewer. Eighty-one percent of the ministers surveyed received forreal training for the ministry. Sixty-five percent of the sample reported that they spend up to 20 percent of their work time in counseling situations. Another 28 percent reported that they spend up to 40 percent of their time in counseling situations. When asked to rank in order the actual types of counseling cases that they were involved with, from those most counseled to those least counseled, the following pattern emerged. Marital problems were counseled most by the minister, followed by spiritual growth, doctrinal, premarital, mental or emotional, patient counseling, death education, alcohol, drug use and abuse, aging, sex education, smoking, suicide, child abuse, and venereal disease. The following areas received mention under the heading of "other": parent-child relationships, leadership counseling, family relationships, life goals and pur-
240
Journal of Religion and Health
poses, homosexuality, and racial status problems. In all health areas listed, over 50 percent of the ministers indicated that they were not adequately trained to counsel. Table 1 shows the actual response in percentage form and then allows the reader to compare the response to the actual rank order of most-often counseled areas to the least-often counseled areas. For example, 59 percent of the ministers stated that they were not adequately trained to counsel in the area of marital problems, b u t i t was the area that they were most often asked to provide counsel. Similarly, 81 percent of the ministers felt that they had not been adequately trained to offer counsel in the area of mental or emotional problems, yet it was the fifth most often counseled area. Only in the counseling areas of spiritual growth and doctrinal problems did the majority of the ministers feel that they had been adequately trained. Although the majority of the ministers indicated that they had not been adequately trained to counsel in the health-related areas listed, most felt adequate in offering such counsel. Table 2 shows the percentage response of the minister to the question, "How adequate do you feel counseling these types of cases?" Totals were computed so that the four original categories could be collapsed into two categories and simply labeled total adequate and total inadequate. This was done so that statistical procedures could be properly performed. Collapsing these categories revealed thaz 93 pe:cent of the ministers felt adequate to counsel doctrinal problems. Eighty-nine percent of the ministers felt adequate to offer counsel in the area of spiritual growth. In the counseling areas of premarital counseling and smoking, 77 percent of the ministers felt adequate to counsel others. On the other end of the spectrum, 35 percent of the ministers felt adequate to counsel in the area of suicide. How could the ministers even suggest that they felt adequate to counsel in areas in which they were not adequately trained? To answer this question the ministers were asked if they had participated in any course work {that is, seminars, workshops, college classes, etc.) in the areas listed since their initial training. The response was varied. The largest percentage of the ministers (74 percent) had participated in course work in the counseling areas of doctrine and spiritual growth. Seventy-one percent reported that they had participated in course work dealing with the marital counseling areas. Fewer than 60 percent had participated in the other 12 counseling areas. The area of venereal disease attracted the lowest percentage (18 percent) of the ministers. Table 3 shows the precise response in each area. To assist in accomplishing the purpose of the study, a primary interest was to find out if the variables of age, state, congregation size, community size, educational background, and preaching experience had any effect upon the rank orders assigned by ministers regarding their actual experience and felt health education needs. Specifically, the question to be answered was, "Does agreement exist among the ministers in the ranks assigned to the types of counseling cases?" Kendall's coefficient of concordance was used to determine if agreement existed. A chi-square test was then made to determine the power of the derived coefficient.
Wayne E. Wylie
241
Response of Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r to Item #i3 of Q u e s t i o n n a i r e , "Did Your T r a i n i n g f o r t h e M i n i s t r y Adequately Prepare You t o Counsel in This Area?" Reported in Percentages and Contrasted t o Most t o Least Counseled Area.
TABLE 1.
Yes
No
Rank Order From Most To Least Counseled Area
102
41
59
1
98
7B
22
ID2
86
14
3
Pre-Marital
99
46
54
4
Mental or Emotional
95
19
81
5
P a t i e n t Counseling
89
39
61
5
Death Education
91
4!
59
7
Alcohol
98
28
72
8
Drug Use and Abuse
88
~g
81
9
Aging
90
30
70
10
Sex Education
88
36
64
II
Smoking
86
38
62
12
Suicide
87
L8
82
!3
C h i l d Abuse
83
13
87
14
Venereal Disease
84
14
86
15
Response Counseling Area Marital Spiritual
Growth
Doctrinal
N
83 86 87
104 87 B7 99 86 79 80 93 83
Smoking
Sex Education
Patient Counseling
Marital
Death Education
Aging
Alcohol
Drug Use and Abuse
Venereal Oisease
Child Abuse
Mental or Emotional
Suicide
35
41
44
45
50
55
61
67
70
72
75
77
77
89
93
Total I Adequate
6
6
5
8
8
7
IO
20
15
13
13
20
21
48
53
Very Adequate
ISum of columns "very adequate" and "adequate" 2Sum of columns "very adequate" and "inadequate"
iGO
Pre-Marital
L00
Spiritual
Growth
103
Doctrinal
N
29
35
39
37
42
48
51
47
55
5g
62
57
56
41
40
Adequate
65
58
56
55
50
44
39
33
30
29
26
23
23
11
7
Total 2 Adequate
22
14
20
22
i0
]0
8
3
6
5
3
0
3
5
4
Very Inadequate
43
44
35
34
40
34
31
33
24
23
26
23
20
6
3
Inadequate
Response of Church of Christ M i n i s t e r s to Item #14 of Questiennaire, "How Adequate Do You Feel Counseling Thege Jypes of Cases?" Reported in Percentages.
Counseling Area
TABLE Z,
r
Wayne E. Wylie
TABLE 3.
243
Response of Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r s to Item #17 of Q u e s t i o n n a i r e , "Have You P a r t i c i p a t e d in Any Coursework ( i . e . Seminars, Workshops, College Classes~ e t c . ) in the Areas L i s t e d Since Your I n i t i a l T r a i n i n g ? " Reported in Percentages.
Response Counseling Area
N
Yes
No
101
74
26
97
74
26
Marital
105
7!
29
Pre-Martial
101
57
43
Drug Use and Abuse
9E
54
46
Alcohol
98
49
51
95
48
52
Sex Education
90
47
53
P a t i e n t Counseling
90
44
56
Death Education
94
43
57
Aging
91
40
60
Suicide
90
29
71
C h i l d Abuse
87
28
72
Smoking
86
E?
78
Venereal Disease
88
18
82
Doctrinal Spirital
Mental
Growth
or
Emotional
Journal of Religion and Health
244
Agreement was found to exist in each comparison when attention was focused on ranks assigned to the listed counseling areas according to actual counseling experience of the minister. Table 4 presents a summary of the derived coefficients of concordance and the strength of this agreement. Although an alpha level of .05 was utilized, it is worth noting that all tests were significant at the .001 level. Agreement was also found to exist in each comparison when attention was focused on the minister's ranking of all counseling areas, according to the minister's felt health education needs. Table 5 presents a summary of the derived coefficients of concordance and the strength of this agreement. Again, all were significant at the .001 level. It was also found that agreement existed at the .001 level of significance between the actual experience rankings and the perceived-needs rankings. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient revealed a high degree of agreement, as shown by Table 6. Again this correlation coefficient was significant at .001. Since it was found that agreement existed between the types of health counseling actually done by the minister and the types of health education that the prospective minister perceived to be needed during ministerial training, it was not surprising to find that an overwhelming majority of the ministers surveyed said that they would recommend educational programs to be required in all health areas. Table 7 shows that the lowest percentage of positive response was found in the venereal disease category, where 82 percent of the ministers would require the program. In all other categories, 87 percent or more of the Summary of the Kendall C o e f f i c i e n t of Concordance Assigned According to the Church of Christ M i n i s t e r ' s Actual Counseling Experience.
TABLE 4.
Variable .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
W .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
P
X2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
State
.9399
66.06
.001
Community Size
.9102
76.44
.00]
Congregation Size
.9105
38.24
.001
Age Group
.8443
58.80
.001
Preaching Experience
.8974
75.38
.001
Educational Level
.8939
62.30
.001
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Wayne E. Wylie
245
ministers recommended that educational programs be required during ministerial training.
Conclusions
On the basis of the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The minister functions as a health counselor. 2. As perceived by the ministers surveyed, the schools, colleges, and universities that train ministers do an inadequate job in preparing the minister to counsel in health-related areas. 3. Ministers offer health counsel whether they feel qualified to do so or not. 4. The types of health counseling cases that are brought to the minister are common to all ministers regardless of the independent variables of state, community size, congregation size, age, preaching experience, and educational level. 5. Health education is a desired program of study by the minister to be included in his initial preparation for the ministry.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are offered by this researcher after careful
TABLE 6.
Summary of the Kendall C o e f f i c i e n t of Concordance Assigned According to the Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r ' s Felt Needs.
Variable
W
X2
P
State
.9077
63.54
.001
Community Size
.9082
76.44
.001
Congregation Size
.8920
37.38
.001
Age Group
.5410
58,80
.001
Preaching Experience
.9236
77.58
.001
Educational Level
.9122
63.70
,001
Journal of Religion and Health
246
A Comparison of Rankings of C o u n s e l i n g Areas A c c o r d i n g to Actual Counseling Experience t o Rankings According to P e r c e i v e d F e l t Needs as Ranked by Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r s .
TABLE 6.
Rank By Counseling Experience
Rank By Perceived F e l t Need
d
d2
1
l
0
0
2
2
0
0
Doctrinal
3
4
-I
!
Pre-Martial
4
3
i
I
Mental
5
5
0
0
P a t i e n t Counseling
6
8
-2
4
Death Education
7
9
-2
4
Alcohol
8
6
2
4
Drug Use and Abuse
9
7
2
4
Aging
iO
10
0
0
Sex Education
11
11
0
0
Smoking
12
14
-2
4
Suicide
13
14
1
i
C h i l d Abuse
14
13
I
I
Venereal Disease
15
15
0
0
Counseling Area
Marital Spiritual
Growth
or Emotional
~;d
2
24
=
,)
=
~
6 .< d ~
~:
/---;---O----
s
/
2
~ L-T S
r
s
=
s
144 ............. 3360
t:
=
13 -.7~;~-
.96/_
1
S r
i
=
t =
.96
(i2.5150
t
] 2 .0 ! *
.9572 =
*SigI~J
fi
Health Counseling Competencies oNeeded by the Minister WAYNE E. WYLIE A B S T R A C T : The purpose of this study was to characterize current health counseling practices of the Church of Christ minister and to identify areas of needed health counseling competencies which should be addressed during professional preparation of the minister. The subjects who made up the sample for this study came from the population of active local ministers of the Churches of Christ who resided in the states of Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Specifically, it was found that the Church of Christ minister is most frequently called upon to offer counsel in the health-related areas of marital problems, patient counseling, death education, alcohol problems, drug use or abuse, and aging, respectively. It was also found that the majority of the ministers surveyed felt that their training for the ministry had not adequately prepared them to offer health counsel. The majority of the sample indicated that all health topics listed on the questionnaire should be required during initial preparation for the ministry. Other findings were also noted.
Introduction The concept that health education should be a responsibility shared jointly in the home, school, and community has long been advocated within the health profession. Therefore, it is interesting to study the graphic model that Fodor and Dalis formulated to depict such a shared responsibility for health education.1 This model, entitled Individual Health as Influenced by HomeSchool Community, depicted the utilization of all available resources and agencies to attain the desired health education outcomes and solutions of health problems. While the forces of the home were illustrated as the primary and fundamental influences upon the development of the individual, the school and community forces were shown to supplement those of the home. However, the school and community forces depended upon various agencies and subgroups within their structure to make a contribution to the development of the person's well-being. Specifically, the model listed churches, official health agencies, parent-teacher associations, private industries, professional societies, service clubs, voluntary health agencies, and youth groups as community resources and agencies to use in promoting health education. With this concept of sharing in mind, the health educator should strive to include every possible resource available to meet the health education needs of the people. One ally within the community that could be better used to provide health education is the local church. Although the church was the first cornAssistant Professor, Department of Health and Physical Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 237
9 1984 Institutes of Religion and Health
238
Journal of Religion and Health
munity resource mentioned in Fodor and Dalis's model, little has been done to use such a resource fully within the community health arena.
Review of the literature It has been suggested that since the church is an influential part of many people's lives, it would seem appropriate to extend health education to the church setting. 2 The review of the literature also revealed that the minister is in a strategic position to offer health-related information and counseling to the community. 3 Church members have come to expect help in health-related problems from church leaders. 4 It has been stated that the church should help prevent alcoholism, crime, sexual promiscuity, and "evil of every form" to the limit of its ability, s Research has indicated that the minister is being asked to counsel more and more in health-related areas. ~ Therefore, church leaders, especially ministers, have become a population that has the potential to affect health knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of great numbers of people as a result of their profession. Even though more and more of the minister's time is spent in health counseling situations, literature indicates that the curricula of seminary programs have changed very little since they were designed. ~Consequently, the minister has not been prepared to respond to many of the people's personal health needs. Emphasis within the seminary programs has been placed on doctrine and philosophy, while formal health education has been ignored. Past studies have been consistent in revealing that the majority of ministers surveyed felt their seminary preparation for the type of counseling they were most frequently asked to do was inadequate, s Virkler concIuded from his study: There is a need for periodic assessment of the counseling demands made upon ministers, and for developing a seminary counseling curriculum that reflects those needs. 9 As the review of the literature demonstrates, the minister represents a great potential for aiding the health professional if appropriate training is provided. Thus the dilemma: an excellent opportunity to expand the community health program through the church setting but, alas, another population in the position to provide valuable health information if only it possessed such a competency.
Purpose of the study The purpose of the study was to characterize current health counseling practices of the minister and to identify areas of needed health counseling competencies that should be addressed during the minister's professional preparation. Thus, the study was concerned with identifying those health com-
Wayne E. Wylie
239
petencies which, if developed, would enable that minister to become a better health educator and counselor within the church domain.
Method of procedure The study was limited to active Church of Christ ministers who resided in the states of Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. These states were selected because they contained the largest population of Church of Christ ministers and Church of Christ ministerial training sites. A random, proportional stratified sampling technique was used to select ministers to participate in the study. A questionnaire was designed for use in the study. A jury made up of four health professionals, three full-time Church of Christ ministers, and four academic or administrative personnel employed by Church of Christsupported colleges or universities provided critical, constructive evaluation of this instrument. Three revisions were made. The final form of the questionnaire, which consisted of 17 items, was mailed to the sample. A total of three mailings yielded a response from 137 ministers. However, only 108 questionnaires were used because 29 were too incomplete to be included in the preparation of the data. In addition to simple response percentages, the statistical procedures of Kendall's coefficient of concordance, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and chi-square were used in the analysis of the data. An alpha level of .05 was used.
Findings The random, proportional stratified sampling technique yielded a sample with a mean preaching experience of 17.6 years. The mean age of the ministers was 41.9 years, with a range from 23 to 68 years. Approximately 68 percent of the ministers served congregations in communities of 30,000 population or fewer. The majority, 64.8 percent, of the ministers served congregations totaling 250 members or fewer. Eighty-one percent of the ministers surveyed received forreal training for the ministry. Sixty-five percent of the sample reported that they spend up to 20 percent of their work time in counseling situations. Another 28 percent reported that they spend up to 40 percent of their time in counseling situations. When asked to rank in order the actual types of counseling cases that they were involved with, from those most counseled to those least counseled, the following pattern emerged. Marital problems were counseled most by the minister, followed by spiritual growth, doctrinal, premarital, mental or emotional, patient counseling, death education, alcohol, drug use and abuse, aging, sex education, smoking, suicide, child abuse, and venereal disease. The following areas received mention under the heading of "other": parent-child relationships, leadership counseling, family relationships, life goals and pur-
240
Journal of Religion and Health
poses, homosexuality, and racial status problems. In all health areas listed, over 50 percent of the ministers indicated that they were not adequately trained to counsel. Table 1 shows the actual response in percentage form and then allows the reader to compare the response to the actual rank order of most-often counseled areas to the least-often counseled areas. For example, 59 percent of the ministers stated that they were not adequately trained to counsel in the area of marital problems, b u t i t was the area that they were most often asked to provide counsel. Similarly, 81 percent of the ministers felt that they had not been adequately trained to offer counsel in the area of mental or emotional problems, yet it was the fifth most often counseled area. Only in the counseling areas of spiritual growth and doctrinal problems did the majority of the ministers feel that they had been adequately trained. Although the majority of the ministers indicated that they had not been adequately trained to counsel in the health-related areas listed, most felt adequate in offering such counsel. Table 2 shows the percentage response of the minister to the question, "How adequate do you feel counseling these types of cases?" Totals were computed so that the four original categories could be collapsed into two categories and simply labeled total adequate and total inadequate. This was done so that statistical procedures could be properly performed. Collapsing these categories revealed thaz 93 pe:cent of the ministers felt adequate to counsel doctrinal problems. Eighty-nine percent of the ministers felt adequate to offer counsel in the area of spiritual growth. In the counseling areas of premarital counseling and smoking, 77 percent of the ministers felt adequate to counsel others. On the other end of the spectrum, 35 percent of the ministers felt adequate to counsel in the area of suicide. How could the ministers even suggest that they felt adequate to counsel in areas in which they were not adequately trained? To answer this question the ministers were asked if they had participated in any course work {that is, seminars, workshops, college classes, etc.) in the areas listed since their initial training. The response was varied. The largest percentage of the ministers (74 percent) had participated in course work in the counseling areas of doctrine and spiritual growth. Seventy-one percent reported that they had participated in course work dealing with the marital counseling areas. Fewer than 60 percent had participated in the other 12 counseling areas. The area of venereal disease attracted the lowest percentage (18 percent) of the ministers. Table 3 shows the precise response in each area. To assist in accomplishing the purpose of the study, a primary interest was to find out if the variables of age, state, congregation size, community size, educational background, and preaching experience had any effect upon the rank orders assigned by ministers regarding their actual experience and felt health education needs. Specifically, the question to be answered was, "Does agreement exist among the ministers in the ranks assigned to the types of counseling cases?" Kendall's coefficient of concordance was used to determine if agreement existed. A chi-square test was then made to determine the power of the derived coefficient.
Wayne E. Wylie
241
Response of Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r to Item #i3 of Q u e s t i o n n a i r e , "Did Your T r a i n i n g f o r t h e M i n i s t r y Adequately Prepare You t o Counsel in This Area?" Reported in Percentages and Contrasted t o Most t o Least Counseled Area.
TABLE 1.
Yes
No
Rank Order From Most To Least Counseled Area
102
41
59
1
98
7B
22
ID2
86
14
3
Pre-Marital
99
46
54
4
Mental or Emotional
95
19
81
5
P a t i e n t Counseling
89
39
61
5
Death Education
91
4!
59
7
Alcohol
98
28
72
8
Drug Use and Abuse
88
~g
81
9
Aging
90
30
70
10
Sex Education
88
36
64
II
Smoking
86
38
62
12
Suicide
87
L8
82
!3
C h i l d Abuse
83
13
87
14
Venereal Disease
84
14
86
15
Response Counseling Area Marital Spiritual
Growth
Doctrinal
N
83 86 87
104 87 B7 99 86 79 80 93 83
Smoking
Sex Education
Patient Counseling
Marital
Death Education
Aging
Alcohol
Drug Use and Abuse
Venereal Oisease
Child Abuse
Mental or Emotional
Suicide
35
41
44
45
50
55
61
67
70
72
75
77
77
89
93
Total I Adequate
6
6
5
8
8
7
IO
20
15
13
13
20
21
48
53
Very Adequate
ISum of columns "very adequate" and "adequate" 2Sum of columns "very adequate" and "inadequate"
iGO
Pre-Marital
L00
Spiritual
Growth
103
Doctrinal
N
29
35
39
37
42
48
51
47
55
5g
62
57
56
41
40
Adequate
65
58
56
55
50
44
39
33
30
29
26
23
23
11
7
Total 2 Adequate
22
14
20
22
i0
]0
8
3
6
5
3
0
3
5
4
Very Inadequate
43
44
35
34
40
34
31
33
24
23
26
23
20
6
3
Inadequate
Response of Church of Christ M i n i s t e r s to Item #14 of Questiennaire, "How Adequate Do You Feel Counseling Thege Jypes of Cases?" Reported in Percentages.
Counseling Area
TABLE Z,
r
Wayne E. Wylie
TABLE 3.
243
Response of Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r s to Item #17 of Q u e s t i o n n a i r e , "Have You P a r t i c i p a t e d in Any Coursework ( i . e . Seminars, Workshops, College Classes~ e t c . ) in the Areas L i s t e d Since Your I n i t i a l T r a i n i n g ? " Reported in Percentages.
Response Counseling Area
N
Yes
No
101
74
26
97
74
26
Marital
105
7!
29
Pre-Martial
101
57
43
Drug Use and Abuse
9E
54
46
Alcohol
98
49
51
95
48
52
Sex Education
90
47
53
P a t i e n t Counseling
90
44
56
Death Education
94
43
57
Aging
91
40
60
Suicide
90
29
71
C h i l d Abuse
87
28
72
Smoking
86
E?
78
Venereal Disease
88
18
82
Doctrinal Spirital
Mental
Growth
or
Emotional
Journal of Religion and Health
244
Agreement was found to exist in each comparison when attention was focused on ranks assigned to the listed counseling areas according to actual counseling experience of the minister. Table 4 presents a summary of the derived coefficients of concordance and the strength of this agreement. Although an alpha level of .05 was utilized, it is worth noting that all tests were significant at the .001 level. Agreement was also found to exist in each comparison when attention was focused on the minister's ranking of all counseling areas, according to the minister's felt health education needs. Table 5 presents a summary of the derived coefficients of concordance and the strength of this agreement. Again, all were significant at the .001 level. It was also found that agreement existed at the .001 level of significance between the actual experience rankings and the perceived-needs rankings. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient revealed a high degree of agreement, as shown by Table 6. Again this correlation coefficient was significant at .001. Since it was found that agreement existed between the types of health counseling actually done by the minister and the types of health education that the prospective minister perceived to be needed during ministerial training, it was not surprising to find that an overwhelming majority of the ministers surveyed said that they would recommend educational programs to be required in all health areas. Table 7 shows that the lowest percentage of positive response was found in the venereal disease category, where 82 percent of the ministers would require the program. In all other categories, 87 percent or more of the Summary of the Kendall C o e f f i c i e n t of Concordance Assigned According to the Church of Christ M i n i s t e r ' s Actual Counseling Experience.
TABLE 4.
Variable .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
W .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
P
X2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
State
.9399
66.06
.001
Community Size
.9102
76.44
.00]
Congregation Size
.9105
38.24
.001
Age Group
.8443
58.80
.001
Preaching Experience
.8974
75.38
.001
Educational Level
.8939
62.30
.001
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Wayne E. Wylie
245
ministers recommended that educational programs be required during ministerial training.
Conclusions
On the basis of the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The minister functions as a health counselor. 2. As perceived by the ministers surveyed, the schools, colleges, and universities that train ministers do an inadequate job in preparing the minister to counsel in health-related areas. 3. Ministers offer health counsel whether they feel qualified to do so or not. 4. The types of health counseling cases that are brought to the minister are common to all ministers regardless of the independent variables of state, community size, congregation size, age, preaching experience, and educational level. 5. Health education is a desired program of study by the minister to be included in his initial preparation for the ministry.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are offered by this researcher after careful
TABLE 6.
Summary of the Kendall C o e f f i c i e n t of Concordance Assigned According to the Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r ' s Felt Needs.
Variable
W
X2
P
State
.9077
63.54
.001
Community Size
.9082
76.44
.001
Congregation Size
.8920
37.38
.001
Age Group
.5410
58,80
.001
Preaching Experience
.9236
77.58
.001
Educational Level
.9122
63.70
,001
Journal of Religion and Health
246
A Comparison of Rankings of C o u n s e l i n g Areas A c c o r d i n g to Actual Counseling Experience t o Rankings According to P e r c e i v e d F e l t Needs as Ranked by Church of C h r i s t M i n i s t e r s .
TABLE 6.
Rank By Counseling Experience
Rank By Perceived F e l t Need
d
d2
1
l
0
0
2
2
0
0
Doctrinal
3
4
-I
!
Pre-Martial
4
3
i
I
Mental
5
5
0
0
P a t i e n t Counseling
6
8
-2
4
Death Education
7
9
-2
4
Alcohol
8
6
2
4
Drug Use and Abuse
9
7
2
4
Aging
iO
10
0
0
Sex Education
11
11
0
0
Smoking
12
14
-2
4
Suicide
13
14
1
i
C h i l d Abuse
14
13
I
I
Venereal Disease
15
15
0
0
Counseling Area
Marital Spiritual
Growth
or Emotional
~;d
2
24
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