Anne Bach-Starling
Adjunct Faculty
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Education
  • Doctor of Philosophy
  • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
  • Master of Arts in Education: Counseling - Community Counseling
Programs Taught
  • Bridge (Master of Science in Athletic Training)
  • Bridge (Master of Science in Occupational Therapy)
  • Bridge (Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology)
  • Bridge (Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision - Qualitative Research)
  • Bridge (Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision - Quantitative Research)
Classes
  • BHS-240: Group Dynamics and Process
  • BHS-320: Ethics of Behavioral Health Science
  • BHS-330: Cultural and Social Diversity in Behavioral Health
  • BHS-420: Human Development
  • BHS-490: Professional Capstone Project
Research Interests
  • Parasocial Relationship, Parasocial Breakup, and Image Restoration Theory: My current research is exploring the phenomena of understanding how sports fans experience, conceptualization and respond to parasocial relationship and parasocial breakup with a superstar professional athlete. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study is to explore how the parasocial relationship and parasocial breakup of Cleveland Cavs Fans of Lebron James has changed post 2016 NBA Championship in Ohio. According to Tal-Or. (2017), a parasocial relationship generally refers to a one-sided relationship that a media consumer forms with a media figure and that the termination of this relationship is called a parasocial breakup. My study is a partial-replication case study of the Bostwick and Lookadoo (2016) study in which the authors analyzed Cleveland Cavs sports fans’ reflections on parasocial relationship (PSR) and parasocial breakup (PSB) experiences of Lebron James in 2014 post his return to the Cleveland Cavs team after having left to play in Miami in 2010. The authors concluded that the investment in James increased as the intensity of the PSR increased. Grief was also identified as having increased as the experience of PSB increased after James left the team. This is the tie-in to my initial idea for a study, which was the grief experience of fans of historically losing sports franchises. There was difficulty finding a gap in the literature for that, so I have narrowed it down and specified it to Lebron James as the research of Bostwick and Lookadoo identified areas for growth in the research to include a focus on studying the PSR and PSB of Lebron James in other contexts (now that the Cavs have won the 2016 Championship) as well as of entire teams leaving a city, such as the Clev
Presentations
  • Navigating Grief Conference
  • Navigating Grief Conference
  • AZ Volunteers for Hospice Annual Conference
  • AZ Volunteers for Hospice Certification Training Program
Licenses / Certificates
  • LPC Supervisor Credential
  • LPC - Licensed Professional Counselor (Arizona)
  • Advanced Bereavement Facilitator
  • Certified Grief Recovery Specialist
  • LAC-Licensed Associate Counselor (Arizona)
AI master’s student working on a computer at a desk

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