Carlow Today & Tomorrow | Blog

In many professional counseling graduate classes, faculty often encourage students to turn their research projects into presentations that can be shared with the larger counseling community. In Dr. Travis Schermer’s research class he introduces students to different research concepts and encourages them to create their own research projects to help solidify their learning. In one such class, as Dr. Schermer was sharing about his own research into men and masculinity, two students expressed interest in partnering with Travis to further explore some these concepts and thus, a research topic was born.

Dr. Schermer, Associate Faculty; Benjamin King, graduate counseling student, and Andrew Roberts, graduate counseling and student affairs student, worked together to develop an exploration into masculinity and qualities of friendship. In this study, a Q methodological approach was chosen because of its ability to depict the participants’ subjective perceptions and examine the statistical relationship between these perceptions. The results of this novel research shows that many men engage in what has been termed ‘caring masculinity’ and how this concept might compare and contrast with traditional masculinity. In the implications of this research, the trio further outlines how a counselor might apply these findings to counseling men.  

This research was accepted and presented at the Pennsylvania Counseling Association’s (PCA) 52^nd Annual Conference in King of Prussia, PA. The PCA is the state branch of the American Counseling Association that supports competent, ethical, and culturally inclusive practice of professional counseling in PA. These researchers were able to present their findings to counseling practitioners, other counseling graduate students, and counseling faculty across the state. If you are interested in learning more about the research interests of the faculty in Carlow’s Masters of Professional Counseling Program, click here to learn more.