Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

6-1981

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major Professor

Bill C Wallace

Committee Members

Warren Huffman, Jack Ellison, Francis Trusty

Abstract

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. To accomplish this purpose this study was designed to answer 16 specific research questions.

The subjects which 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. The random, proportional stratified sampling technique was used to select 266 ministers to participate in the study.

A questionnaire was designed for use in this 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 Christ supported 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 rate of 52 percent. Of this percentage, 108 questionnaires were selected for use in the study. 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. A conceptual health education curriculum was developed and suggested, based on the findings of this study, for use in the schools, colleges, and universities that train ministers.

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, pre-marital problems, mental or emotional problems, patient counseling, death education, alcohol problems, drug use or abuse, and aging, respectively. There were no differences among the ministers concerning the types of actual counseling done or types of health education which they perceived to be needed in respect to the independent variables of state, community size, congregation size, age, preaching experience, and educational level. 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.

On the basis of the findings, the following conclusions were drawn:

1. The minister is a health counselor.

2. The schools, colleges, and diversities that train ministers do an inadequate job in preparing the ministers to counsel in health-related areas.

3. Ministers offer health counsel whether they feel qualified to do so or not.

4. For the most part, if the minister does feel qualified to offer health counsel it is as a result of prior experience or extra-curricular training and not as a result of initial training for the ministry.

5. The types of health counseling cases which are brought to the minister are common to all ministers regard less of the independent variables of state, community size, congregation size, age, preaching experience, and educational level.

6. Health education is a desired program of study by the minister to be included in his initial preparation for the ministry.

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