Practicum Students’ Anticipatory Thoughts About Challenging Client Situations

ABSTRACT Practicum students’ anxiety as they envision seeing “real” clients can impede their self‐efficacy and in‐session functioning. To explore how anticipatory stress and coping theory might help better support them, we used CQR‐M to code students’ ( n = 42) immediate thoughts and reactions to three challenging client situations before and after practicum. Students’ responses reflected key tenets of the theory, pointing to pre‐practicum approaches that may lessen students’ anticipatory stress and enhance their well‐being.