The professional backgrounds, training, experiences and practices of professional and non-professional coaches in Japan were investigated. Coaches (N = 478) participated in an online survey. Among them were professional (n = 195), and non-professional coaches that were actively coaching in their jobs (n = 178). Results indicated clear differences between professional and non-professional coaches. Professionals had longer, certified training in coaching. They also tended to participate in coaches’ associations, had longer coaching experience, committed more time for coaching each month, and received a higher income through coaching. However, certain professional coaches had never studied at a training institute for coaches, nor had any coaching certificate. Also, 40% of professional coaches earned less than ¥1,000,000 per year, and spent less than 20 hours doing coaching each month.　Although less than 8% of coaches had majored in psychology in undergraduate or graduate schools, most of them were interested in psychology and expected that psychology would be useful for coaching.

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For a period of one year starting in April 2013, I tutored three graduate students in quidance skills at Tohoku Institute of Technology. The aim was to impart competency in leadership as reflected in 21st Century developments. We covered five areas: (a) analysis and identification of problems and concerns (b) management of emotions (c) self help (d) assessment of specific situations (e) confidence building and support In order to help the students in their training, I held up three basic principles. Firstly, teachers, leaders, counsellors must serve as role models. Secondly, the counsellor must give the client continuous feedback.Thirdly, the counsellor must remain sincere and maintain hope that the client will be successful in attaining a better degree of happiness and well-being. The results of this training were very positive. The students began their *own* behaviour modification. They enjoyed working with their peers. They exercised initiative and worked hard. As a result, their leadership skills increased without serious impediments. Moreover, it was possible for these students to finish their graduate theses earlier than expected.

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Through the Internet technology deployment and the change of the environment for higher education, many organization demands the change of conventional education practices. In this paper, we would investigate the academic coaching research applying the coaching researches to educational fields. And we would research the role and value of Academic coaching practices through some case studies.

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The present study aimed to develop scales for assessing negative social interactions (NSI) with others, including husbands, parents, parents-in-law and friends, experienced by Japanese women undergoing infertility treatment. Based on previous studies, NSI was defined as social interaction that these women perceived as either negative or unsupportive. The following four scales were then established by selecting items in accordance with the results of our previous qualitative studies: husband NSI; parents NSI; parents-in-law NSI; and friends and others NSI. Questionnaires were mailed to 34 women who had undergone or were currently undergoing infertility treatment. In addition, as a measure of test-retest reliability, 25 of these women answered a second questionnaire, which was identical to the first, four weeks later. Items found difficult to answer by the participants, as well as those revealed to have either a low factor loading by factor analysis or a low correlation coefficient by test-retest analysis, were eliminated. Factor analysis was then re-run to determine validity, and Cronbach’s alpha, test-retest correlations and κ values were calculated to assess reliability. The results of factor analysis revealed that each of the four scales could be assumed to have a one-factor structure. Though Cronbach’s alpha values of each scale were 0.89 and higher, and test-retest correlations were adequate for all items, some items had a low κ value. However, as some items which are characteristic to husband-NSI or parents-in-law NSI were eliminated, those two scales could not be considered sufficient enough in regard to content validity. Further research to evaluate validity and reliability of those four scales is necessary.

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A Japanese non-profit organization Fertility Information Network (FINE), chaired by the author, conducted a survey in a form of questionnaire on how infertility patients select clinics. FINE is a self-support group of people with experience of infertility and operates in various areas to create a better environment for infertility health-care. Medical institutions are the places where people as “patients” seek treatments of their physical and mental disorders. Since the patients’ purpose is simply the improvement of the disorder; they find another similar facility and start going there as a new patient if their conditions do not improve. The question then, what about treatments using assisted reproductive technology (ART). In Japan, the number of infertility clinics which are capable of providing ART such as in-vitro fertilization is 586, which is the most for one country. Perhaps as a result of the extensive choices, infertility patients are said to change clinics or doctors more often. When the ultimate purpose of patients is to get pregnant and eventually give birth to a baby, it is not hard to anticipate that they change clinics when they do not conceive. However, the questions remain regarding the genuine reasons of their changing clinics. This paper analyzes the “points of clinic selections” to find out whether the infertility patients change clinics only because their physical disorder do not improve, or if there are any mental aspects that affect their choices..

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In order to employ effective treatment by medical team at the medical facilities, it is important that medial staff with high speciality understands mutually, deepens communication between professionals, and provides the best medical treatment. Therefore, training across occupational boundaries is required in the organization. In the present studies, such training across boundaries was undertaken. Prior to the training, questionnaire was provided with free statement occupational description other than the questions which answer by a choice. Free statement was analyzed by KJ method and the common problems were extracted. As a result, essential common items of coaching such as listening, talking and recognition are extracted. Furthermore, the problems which new proposal is driven from a free statement, and a health professional problems has also been extracted. Since the training results and effect can diffuse in such an organization, health care level such as a treatment policy, a care plan, etc. may rise and organization obtains higher evaluation from the local community. Thus, combined training methods of a lecture and an exercise (role play) with questionnaire analysis are considered to be useful and effective for not only a training participant but medical facilities concerned.

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In the field of nursing research, there has been a recent increase in the number of case studies on coaching, with a tendency for qualitative research to be the method of choice. Unfortunately, however, the level of both qualitative and quantitative research on coaching cannot yet be described as adequate. In the present study, we propose that nursing research offers valuable lessons from a qualitative perspective on the benefits of promoting coaching research by experienced practitioners, while also introducing previous studies on coaching from a range of different fields and exploring the issues to be aware of when undertaking qualitative research.

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This paper shows an evidence-based research of teaching coaching psychology to undergraduates. Authors of the original article (Steele & Arthur, 2012) conducted a qualitative research for 27 third-year psychology undergraduate students (9 males and 18 females). Qualitative data was gathered through short interviews with students at the start of 12-week coaching psychology module and personal reflective statements at the end of the module. The students had very little knowledge of coaching psychology prior to completing the module. On completion of the module, however, they had an understanding of how to apply psychological theory of coaching to their future career.

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This paper briefly explains the content of“Evidence Based Coaching Handbook” (Stober and Grant eds., 2006). This book applies recent behavioral science research to executive and personal coaching, while bringing multiple disciplines to bear on why and how coaching works. Its contributors examine various approaches and apply each to the same two case studies, demonstrating the methods, assumptions and concepts at work in the different approaches. They believe that evidence based practice holds promise as a guide for critical evaluation and development in coaching.

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The author develops here a conceptual framework of a study of encouraging people for better interpersonal relationship. The study aims to find a new concept and framework in Japanese traditional thought. After the Japanese version of “Handbook of Coaching Psychology” was published in 2011, the author has wandered about to find a new conceptual framework instead of coaching or coaching psychology. The author stayed for a while in “Human Supportology” to propose a new relationship between coach and client. The concept, however, could not go beyond the old framework of coaching. The author has tried to establish a new, wider and inclusive framework to reach a study of encouraging people for better interpersonal relationship.

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