College Students Attitudes And Perception Of The Therapeutic Competence Of Counselors And Other Mental Health Professionals

Author : Mohamed Badra
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 116 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (97 download)

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Download or read book College Students' Attitudes and Perception of the Therapeutic Competence of Counselors and Other Mental Health Professionals written by Mohamed Badra and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The public's perception of counselors has been a topic of concern for many researchers. However, research examining the attitudes towards seeking mental health services and the effect such perceptions have on the propensity of public use is in its prime. Such knowledge is necessary for the benefit of the consumer as well as concerned mental health professional organizations. Furthermore, the ability to discriminate consumer perception based on the professional identity of the mental health service provider will serve as a benchmark for a young profession- counseling- to understand its current status in the minds of the general public, in comparison to related mental health professions, and for counseling professional organizations to better allocate resources aimed at professional advocacy efforts. As potential consumers of mental health services, it is of great merit to understand college students' perceptions of mental health professionals' therapeutic competence, and their attitudes towards seeking services based on the identity of the mental health service provider; i.e. counselor, psychologist, or social worker. This study provided an overview of - three helping professions: counseling, psychology, and social work. Additionally, it expanded upon the circumstances surrounding the origination of each discipline and their governing bodies, current vocational opportunities and average salaries for members of each discipline, the rationale for conducting this study and the psychometric properties of the instrument- the Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS)- utilized by this study. The primary hypothesis which suggested a significant difference in student perception of the mental health professional's level of competence with respect to the identity of the professional was tested. Additionally, student attitudes towards seeking mental health services were measured and a comparison on the basis of the identity of the helper was drawn. The research was unable to find statistical significance regarding the previously posed hypotheses. However, a significant difference was noted between the sexes and their propensity to seek mental health services such that the females in this sample were more likely to seek mental health services than were the male participants. Furthermore, a statistically significant and moderate relationship existed between the number of courses taken in a helping discipline and participants' attitudes towards seeking professional mental health services such that as the number of courses completed increased, so did the positive manner in which participants viewed seeking mental health services. The researcher concluded the study by addressing its limitations and discussing future suggestions for researchers.