Theoretical Orientations of Turkish Counselor Trainees: The Role of Thinking Styles, Epistemology and Curiosity

Abstract

Counselors vary in personality traits, worldviews, epistemic values, cognitive styles, and developmental influences, and these variations in return effect their choice of a guiding theory. This study addresses the variables associated with the theoretical orientations of Turkish psychological counseling students. Participants completed measures of curiosity, thinking styles, epistemological beliefs and a questionnaire on their theoretical choices. Three separate discriminant analysis were conducted to understand which variables differentiate between theoretical orientations. Results of the discriminant analysis revealed that conservative and liberal thinking styles and absorption dimension of curiosity differentiated between theoretical orientations.

Student Theoretical Beliefs at the Beginning and End of a Counseling Theories Course

“…In a study of U.S. psychologists-in-training, Boswell and colleagues (2009) found that the majority of students held assumptions that supported eclectic and integrated orientations of counseling and psychotherapy, followed by the most common single theories of psychodynamics and humanism. Demir and Gazioglu (2012) also found that the majority of their Turkish counseling student participants preferred eclectic and integrative orientations, with cognitive and humanistic approaches next.…”

“…There is limited research of U.S. counselor education programs regarding the theoretical orientations of master's level students. Most of the empirical research regarding the specific theories endorsed by students has focused on psychologists-in-training (Boswell, Castonguay, & Pincus, 2009) or counseling trainees in international undergraduate counseling programs (Demir & Gazioglu, 2012;Sumari, Mohamad, & Ping, 2009). Nevertheless, information gleaned from research can inform the current study by shedding light on theoretical assumptions of novice mental health practitioners.…”

Counselling and Psychotherapy Orientations in Australia: Responses from 24 Australian Psychotherapists

“…A study of Turkish counsellor trainees (Demir & Gazioglu, 2012) found that eclectic approaches were favoured most, followed by cognitive and humanistic approaches. In Sibbald's UK research, counsellors were listed as including community psychiatric nurses, "practice counsellor", clinical psychologists, psychiatrist, health visitor and practice nurses.…”

“…CBT has been identified as the most commonly endorsed psychotherapeutic approach in many countries across the world: it is the leading therapeutic approach or one of the leading approaches cited in the US (e.g., Cook et al, 2010), UK (e.g., Hollanders & McLeod, 1999), Denmark (e.g., Jacobsen et al, 2012), Turkey (Demir & Gazioglu, 2012), and Malaysia (Mohamad & Rahman, 2011)-but not in Argentina where again the psychodynamic approach predominated (Muller, 2008). Jacobsen et al (2012) though indicating CBT was highly ranked (as indicated above), also indicated that the Danish psychologists equally or nearly equally emphasised analytic/psychoanalytic orientations.…”

Epistemic Orientation Short Scale: Development and Validity Evidence in a Sample of Psychotherapists

“…In the last decades, psychotherapy researchers have been interested in issues associated with personal epistemology in different domains related to clinical practice, such as practitioner education and theoretical orientation choice (Arthur, 2000(Arthur, , 2001Demir & Gazioglu, 2012;Heffler & Sandell, 2009;Schacht & Black, 1985); therapist self-care (Brucato & Neimeyer, 2009); working alliance and use of therapeutic techniques (Lee, Neimeyer, & Rice, 2013); and therapy outcomes (Toska, Neimeyer, Taylor, Kavas, & Rice, 2010). This growing interest has rested on the premise that psychotherapists' epistemic commitments may influence affective, behavioral, and cognitive aspects related to their practice.…”