Semester Award Granted

Summer 2025

Submission Date

August 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Carman Gill

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to gather data on stress, wellness, and burnout levels from counselors-in-training (CITs) who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to compare them to norm groups and assess the mediating effect of wellness on the association between stress and burnout. The researcher conducted this study to aid counselor educators in incorporating wellness into interventions that can help BIPOC CITs not only reduce their stress and burnout levels but also augment their overall wellness. The final sample consisted of 118 BIPOC CITs who thoroughly completed a demographic questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale-10, Five Factor Wellness Inventory - Adults 2, and Counselor Burnout Inventory. The researcher utilized the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 29, to examine all data. He found statistically significant differences among BIPOC CITs compared to norm groups in stress, burnout subscales of incompetence, deterioration in personal life, and negative work environment, and wellness dimensions of physical self and social self, with effect sizes ranging from small to large. Additionally, total wellness, along with its wellness facets of coping self, essential self, and creative self, partially mediated the relationship between stress and burnout. The implication of this study is to encourage counselor educators to use these results to inform their wellness interventions with BIPOC CITs in counselor education programs. Some limitations of this study included social desirability, limited generalizability associated with race/ethnicity and counseling track, and the use of a cross-sectional design.

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