| Many researchers have questioned the reason as to why current community-based treatment programs are not effective in treating juvenile offenders. Empirical research suggests that spirituality is often excluded during the therapeutic process. This research study focused on determining the attitudes of mental health professionals and how their level of spirituality, gender, and ethnicity impacts the integration of spirituality into the therapeutic process through the administration of the Spiritual Competency Scale (SCS) and the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS). A Pearson correlational analysis and a multiple regression were utilized in an effort to analyze the data and test the hypotheses of this study. Results indicated that there is a significant relationship between the attitudes of mental health professionals and whether or not they integrate spirituality into the therapeutic process. Results also demonstrated that there is no significant relationship between mental health professionals' level of spirituality, ethnicity, and gender and their attitudes toward spiritual integration. Research implications and recommendations for counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors were discussed. |
