A Heuristic Phenomenological Inquiry Of Counseling Graduate Students With Conservative Christian Values

The purpose of this heuristic phenomenological inquiry was to better understand how counseling students with conservative Christian values interpret their own spiritual/religious identity and how this impacts the way that they experience secular counseling training programs. Utilizing a social constructivist framework, the researcher recruited 10 participants for the study. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire, a modified version of the Multidimensional Religious Ideology Scale (MRIS), and semi-structured interviews. To analyze the data, the researcher employed the procedure created by Moustakas (1990) for heuristic inquiry, which resulted in the identification of 10 themes. Findings, implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are also discussed.