Transcript Bibliotherapy: A Collaboration Goes to the Web

Competent Bibliotherapy:
Preparing counselors who use literature
to be culturally responsive
Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson & Paula McMillen
Oregon State University
American Counseling Association
Montreal, Canada
April 2, 2006
Bibliotherapy Education Project
The birth of this almost seven-year
project began with a cup of coffee
and a simple conversation. We
pondered about the use of books by
various helping professionals.
Spontaneously, we posed two
questions to each other,
“How do therapists, teachers, or
librarians know what books to
recommend?” and
“How do they choose and evaluate
materials?”…
…the project was born.
Bibliotherapy
“a rose by any other name…”
• (AKA) Known by many
names:
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Bilbio-counseling
Biblio-guidance
Biblio-psychology
Book matching
Literatherapy
Library Therapeutics
Literapeutics
Reading Therapy
And many more…
Literally involves
treatment through
books
• Pardeck & Pardeck, 1998
Guided reading of
written materials to
help the reader grow
in self awareness
• Harris & Hodges, 1995
Process of dynamic
interaction between
the personality of the
reader and literature
under the guidance
of a trained helper
• Shrodes, 1950
Defining
Bibliotherapy
Benefits
of
Bibliotherapy
• Provides a Window: increases awareness of and empathetic
understanding for other cultures, lifestyles & lived
experiences
• Provides a Mirror: increases appreciation of, pride in &
identification with one’s own ethnic/cultural identity
• Promotes coping skills
• Provides information and alternatives
• Stimulates discussion of feelings and ideas
• Increases enjoyment of literature and reading
Types of Bibliotherapy
• Developmental
– The use of literature and facilitative processes by
skilled helpers to assist individuals in dealing with life
transitional and normal developmental issues.
• Clinical
– The use of literature and facilitative processes by
skilled mental health or medical clinicians in meeting a
deliberate therapeutic goal for the purpose of assisting
individuals in dealing with severe disorders and
traumatic life experiences (Mazza, 2004).
Therapeutic Mechanisms
• All models expand from initial Psychodynamic
Model developed by Carolyn Shrodes (1949)
• Four stages or steps
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Identification (projection)
Catharsis (abreaction)
Insight (self-awareness)
Universalization
Counselor Stages
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Preparation
Selection
Intervention
Facilitation
Evaluation
Follow Up
Refinement
Implementation Models
• Counselor Initiated
– Counselor plays a more facilitative and
directive role in selection of therapeutic
materials and process for the client
• Interactive
– Counselor and Client negotiate materials and
process, there is a mutual give and take
• Client Initiated
– Client takes leadership role in therapeutic
processes related to literature
Problem Statement
• Books are widely used in
education & mental health
settings
• Limited training, tools or
strategies for new or
experienced helping
professionals
• Limited knowledge related to
training tools exist
• Limited ability to articulate
materials selection criteria to
consider when working with
clients from diverse
backgrounds
• Update collection to include
global and multicultural
materials
Project
Landmarks
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Literature review
Electronic evolution
Student collaborations
Teaching curriculum for
graduate counseling
students
• Clinical supervision
• Ongoing research
Support for Using Multicultural
Literature in Bibliotherapy
• Change attitudes towards
under-represented groups
(Ford, 2000; Kaplan, 1994)
• Improve ethnic self-identity
(Baber, 1992; Erickson, 1966; Ford, 2000;
Holman, 1996; Malgady, et al, 1990)
• Improve positive social and
problem solving skills
(Constantino, et al., 1986)
• Demonstrates respect for the
culture (Greenbaum & Holmes, 1983;
Holman, 1996)
And now it’s evaluation time!
• Spend 10 minutes going
through the book• Look at the content,
pictures, subject,
characters and plot• Discuss the pluses and
concerns
• Ask yourselves, is this
book applicable for more
that one population or is it
specific?
• Decide—is it appropriate
for use with culturally
diverse clients?
Considerations in Selecting
Bias-Free Multicultural Literature
• Omission: the most common form of bias
• Stereotypes in illustration or text: appearance,
character traits, roles
• Diversity within the culture/group (vs. token
representations)
• Values and perspectives presented or promoted
• Authenticity: consider language, settings, author’s
background
Checking Literature for
Cultural Responsiveness
Illustrations
• Emotional congruence
• Look for stereotypes
– Extreme and subtle
• Tokenism.
• Analyze roles
Story
• Standards for success
• Resolution of problems
• Role of young and grown
women
• Beauty or brawn or brains
Lifestyles
• In costume/ in character
• Characters
– Weigh the relationships
– Power players
• Heroes and leaders
– And the hero is....
• Child's Self-Image
– Enhancement, truth or downer
• Author/Illustrator Background
– Authenticity
• Author's Perspective
– Objectivity and personal context.
• Loaded Words
– Offensive and inaccurate
• Copyright Date
– Adapted from 10 ways to assess
children’s literature for bias
Analysis time again...
Spend another 5 minutes going
through the book-this time
through a more critical lens
• Illustrations
• Story
• Lifestyles
• Characters
• Heroes and leaders
• Child's Self-Image
• Author/Illustrator
Background
• Author's Perspective
• Loaded Words
• Copyright Date
Future Directions
• Continued usability testing of
overall Web site design
• Further development of
database search options
• Increase flexibility of site and
database structure for ease of
maintenance
• Establish ongoing funding
mechanisms
• Promote use to librarians and
helping professionals to build
database of evaluated literature
• Focus creativity & scholarship
Future Projects
• Create therapist guide
• Fund student
assistantships
• Focused evaluation
tools
• Develop subject based
lists of materials for
students
• Create librarian guide
• Learning modules for
other courses
Lessons
Learned
• There is a growing body
of multicultural and
global children’s & YA
literature
• Some cultures/ groups/
lifestyles are still poorly
or minimally represented
with quality literature
• Cultural authenticity is a
controversial issue in the
field—proceed with
caution
• No individual is the
definitive representative
of a culture nor is any
single work of literature
Biggest Lessons Learned for
Multicultural Literature Choice
• Always, always, always
read the book before
recommending it to a client
• No two clients will ever take
the same experiences away
from the a given work of
literature -- for no one has
identical psychological and
cultural fields
For more resources and information …
http://bibliotherapy.library.oregonstate.edu
Dr. Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson
[email protected]
Phone 541.737-8551
College of Education
311 Education Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon 97331
Dr. Paula McMillen
[email protected]
Phone 541.737.7272
Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon 97331