Editorial for the first issue of 2018: Cultural Lenses of Counselling and Psychotherapy in Asia Pacific

Abstract

Welcome to this first issue of 2018. I am delighted to announce that the Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy (APJCP) is now included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) of Clarivate Analytics. It is really a big step forward for the development of the journal. I am grateful to all former and recent members of our editorial board for their contributions to the APJCP in past years and to all colleagues of Taylor & Francis team for their hard work in journal promotion and publication. I am also thankful to all of the authors, reviewers and readers of APJCP for their continuous support. This issue is a collection of qualitative and quantitative research studies in the counselling and psychotherapy-related field from Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Nigeria, New Zealand and India. Keith Tudor and Brigitte Viljoen offer a scoping review that provides our readers with a broad overview of the therapeutic approaches and theories historically and currently practiced in the South Pacific Region. They take efforts to explore indigenous healing traditions in the region, and how Western and Northern counselling and psychotherapy influence regional counselling and psychotherapy practice in the era of post-colonialism and post-modernism. Therapeutic alliance is among the most important factors leading to beneficial results in counselling and psychotherapy. Due to cultural differences, however, there are slight regional variations in the types of relationship quality associated with successful therapeutic outcomes. The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory is an instrument to assess Rogerian therapeutic relationship. Faith Liao, David Murphy and Godfrey Barrett-Lennard translate and validate a full Mandarin-Chinese version of the BarrettLennard Relationship Inventory. It can be used for practice and research purposes in counselling and psychotherapy services in Chinese communities. For successful counselling, positive behaviour change occurs not only during but also between counselling sessions. There are numerous potential factors that can prevent the implementation and enactment of treatment recommendations by clients in their lives outside of the therapy room. Brett Furlonger, Steven Kiley, Dennis Moore, Margherita Busacca and Philip Chittleborough evaluate the effectiveness of a collaboratively designed self-management program using a single-case experimental design with baseline, intervention and post-intervention follow-up. This study provides evidence for the use of a cognitive-behavioural self-management counselling intervention and also gives insights to practitioners on how to use single-case experimental design to inform their own practice in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Gloria Eifediyi, Austine Ojugo and Oyaziwo Aluede from Nigeria investigate the effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) in reducing examination ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY, 2018 VOL. 9, NO. 1, 1–2 https://doi.org/10.1080/21507686.2018.1419449