Rehabilitation Counseling Psychology: Research

The Department of Rehabilitation Counseling is committed to fostering research opportunities for interested students. Strong affiliations exist between the department and various clinical services on the UT Southwestern campus that have ongoing research programs.

The Rehabilitation Counseling department has a developmental neuropsychology service, which maintains a focus on research about learning disabilities and ADHD. A research interest in children’s executive functioning is ongoing, particularly with respect to the measurement of problem-solving on standardized neuropsychological tests and its relationship to adaptive behavior in the real-life environment. Students from the UT Southwestern Graduate Program in Clinical Psychology have completed doctoral dissertations in this area, and students from the Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Counseling Psychology have pursued master’s theses in this area, as well. Students are encouraged to present their research at national conferences, and a number of students have presented posters at meetings of the American Psychological Association, International Neuropsychological Society, and National Academy of Neuropsychology. 

The Department also is engaged in establishing a database of client information from the adult clients who utilize our services. This database may be available to students for thesis research. 

Examples of topics for master’s theses completed in the department are:

• Diabetes in Latinas: Depression, metabolic control and the role of acculturation and perceived social support.
• Internalized psychopathology and visual-spatial ability in children with learning disabilities.
• Effects of a six-week interdisciplinary program on depression, anxiety, and pain in patients with fibromyalgia.
• Relationship of internalizing behavior problems to intelligence and executive functioning in children.
• Characteristics of verbal and visuospatial subtypes in Alzheimer’s Disease.
• Assessing the application of the stages of change model as a correlate of outcomes in the treatment of chronic pain.
• Emotional functioning in epilepsy: Pre- and post- temporal lobectomy.