Your task is to author a research paper which contains a brief literature review and
engages your ability to answer the following questions:
Define a specific contemporary issue that is your focus
Briefly define the issue you selected and provide support for its importance (pick at least one
of these: racism, discrimination, homophobia and issues relevant to LGBTQIA+ persons,
financial stress, divorce conflict, substance use and dependency, disabilities and handicaps,
changing views of marriage)
o provide specific rates, correlations, or statistical significance evidence that
supports the importance of this focus (adjectives alone are not sufficient)
o Support your claims with citations from the papers you found
Explain how couples or families may experience the contemporary issue you selected
Report on how the issue you selected may affect couples or families’ functions, roles,
expectations, communications, and relationships
Support your claims with citations from the papers you found
Identify one therapy model to support your observations about how this issue affects
couples or families (choose at least one of these: (Bowen, Structural, Emotional, Solution
Focused, Experiential, Strategic, Narrative, Contextual, etc.).
Explain what specific strategies (techniques from therapy models) may be used for helping
couples’ or family’s functions as they cope, respond to, or adapt to the issue you selected—
provide at least two therapy strategies or techniques (Bowen, Structural, Emotional, Solution
Focused, Experiential, Strategic, Narrative, Contextual, etc.) for bringing about therapeutic
change or systemic improvement
Support your claims with citations from the papers you found
3. a) Evaluate the research that exists about specific strategies, or evidence of importance
to support the issue you selected
Evaluating therapies for effectiveness includes:
i) Describing the kind of study (experimental or non-experimental)
(1) Group comparison, variable correlation, or cross-sectional survey
(a) How sample was selected? randomly or by convenience?
(b) Control group?
(c) Random assignment?
(d) Sample size?
(2) Correlational or causal results; providing specific statistical evidence (test values and
p values, sample size, confidence intervals as applicable)
(a) Usually, publications include limitations the study authors encountered. This is
part of your evaluation.
(3) Reporting statistical evidence to support evidence that therapy models work
(a) Providing statistical significance (test value and p-value, sample size, confidence
intervals) and/or practice significance evidence (common sense reasoning)
(4) Explaining one treatment recommendation from the literature that may work for
helping couples or families facing contemporary issues
ii) iii) Supporting your evaluations with citations from the papers you found
Explain how as a counselor (not a social worker, case manager, or other professional)
you may advocate for couples or families facing the contemporary issue you selected
a) Define what advocacy means
b) Explain how you would advocate within the therapeutic encounter. This means empowering
the client so the client may advocate for its own benefit.
i) Explain how your opinion meets ethical standards for counselors (beneficence, non-
maleficence, justice, veracity, confidentiality)
c) 5. Support your claims with citations from the papers you found
Conclude with a brief summary of one therapy strategy and one advocacy initiative to
help couples or families facing the contemporary issue you selected
a) Provide logical reasons that follow from what you discussed above (evidence, limitations,
implications from the papers you read)
b) Support your claims with citations from the papers you found
6. Provide a complete reference list that includes all citations in your paper
7. Tables as needed
8. Figures as needed