Investigation and Classification of Personal Constructs Representing Ideal Counselor from Insider Perspective

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to determine the personal constructs of psychological counselors (N=60) when they characterize their colleagues, effective psychological counselors and self-psychological counseling competence through repertory grid technique. Analysis of the data gathered through repertory grid technique demonstrates that participants generally most characterize counselors and effective counselors with professional qualification, professional background, professionalism, experience which are personal constructs. In addition, counselors’ current perception of themselves, their ideal-self and the distance between what they attribute to as ideal and non-ideal was obtained with cluster analysis. The paired sample t-test results showed that counselors view themselves significantly distant from both ideal and non-ideal counselor profiles. They tend to form a clearer opinion of what type of counselor they do not want to become, while they are inclined to be uncertain about what type of counselor they want to become.