Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Katarzyna Peoples

Abstract

Half of all doctoral students do not graduate, with attrition occurring because of the dissertation process. Outcomes for women and minorities are even worse. This study is an interpretive phenomenological analysis of the lived experiences of African American women working on their dissertation for a counselor education and supervision (CES) doctoral program. This study was guided by Flynn et al.’s emergent theory of the initiation, management, and completion of the dissertation, which highlights 6 themes important to successful completion of the dissertation in CES programs. Though the theory was originally applied to a largely White and Midwestern sample, this study addressed the lived experience of African American women in CES doctoral programs to see if the themes aligned with the experiences of these women. The most significant divergence of the experiences with the 7 interviewed African American women was the centrality of race to their experience. The other primary themes that emerged were the importance of individual traits, personal relationships, and environmental challenges to their experience. Based on the results, efforts should be made to improve the cultural competence of faculty, strengthen cohort networks, and increase support for African American women in CES doctoral programs. Unless efforts are made to understand the experiences of African American women and address higher doctoral attrition, institutions of higher education and society risk failing these women who make up nearly a third of all CES students. Findings may promote positive social change by program administrators to improve the doctoral experience of African American women.

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