Effect of an Emotional Intelligence Training Program Developed for Prospective Psychological Counselors on Psychological Counseling Skill Levels

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of an emotional intelligence training program for prospective psychological counselors on psychological counseling skills. The study group for the research comprised 28 prospective psychological counselors attending the guidance and psychological counseling department of a state university who volunteered to participate in the study. The research used a semi-experimental pattern with pretest, posttest and control group. The 2 x 3 split-plot included the first factor with independent process groups of the experimental and control group (14 students each), while the second factor included the repeated measures related to the dependent variables (pretest, posttest, follow-up). The personal information form and Microcounseling Skill Discrimination Scale were used as data collection tools. Analyses were completed with IBM SPSS program. According to the results obtained, for the experimental group there were significant differences identified between the pretest points and posttest and follow-up test points, while there was no statistically significant difference found between the posttest and follow-up measures. In line with this, it was concluded that the emotional intelligence training program was an effective program to develop the psychological counseling skills of prospective psychological counselors and this change continued 1 month after the treatment.