Date

7-21-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Pamela Moore

Keywords

forgiveness, self-forgiveness, bibliotherapy, counselor education, self-care, burnout, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress

Disciplines

Counseling | Psychology

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine a forgiveness bibliotherapy program as a self-care strategy for counseling students. Self-care requires close attention as part of professional development for competent counselors because counselors are likely to be exposed to vicarious trauma, endure a high level of stress, and experience burnout and compassion fatigue. It is crucial for them to be able to navigate their own emotions, pain, and hurt as well as find strategies to cope with both personal and professional issues that they may encounter. Especially, forgiveness programs have been empirically supported to be effective for improving both psychological and relational well-being when dealing with a kind of hurt that involves relational conflicts. In this study, a randomized pretest-posttest control group design was used to examine the effect of an 8-week forgiveness bibliotherapy on symptoms of emotional distress (anger, anxiety, and depression), forgiveness (forgiveness of others and the self), and counseling-related self-care outcomes (compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress) among counselors-in-training at a large university in Central Virginia. At posttest, the experimental group, while controlling for baselines scores at pretest had higher forgiveness of others and lower emotional distress and burnout compared to the control group, and such differences maintained at a one-month follow-up. Implications for counselor self-care and counselor education are discussed.

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Available for download on Wednesday, July 21, 2027

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