Views of School Counselors on Dating Violence

Abstract

Dating violence is a common problem with severe effects in the short and long term. It is known that dating violence occurs mostly among young people aged between of 16-24. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the views, awareness, and experiences about dating violence of school counselors who work at the high schools in the central district of Amasya, Turkey. The research design is qualitative descriptive research. The study group consists of 14 school counselors. As one of the data collection methods of qualitative research, interviews were held throughout the study. In the collection of data, "Personal Information Form (PIM)" and "Interview Form (IF)" were employed. The IF consists of 7 open-ended questions about the concept of dating violence. For data analysis, content analysis was used. Almost half of the school counselors have not heard of the concept of dating violence before, they do not know the concept and do not work on dating violence or healthy romantic relationships. Participants think that studies related to dating violence and healthy romantic relationships should be done and these studies will have positive effects on an individual level and on social contexts. However, they think that if they do these studies with teachers and administrators, or with parents, they will get negative reactions. Similar studies can be done in different regions, different provinces, with different people, and larger samples. Studies can also be conducted to examine the opinions and experiences of students, teachers, and parents on this issue and to raise their awareness. Especially in high schools, preventive studies aimed at avoiding dating violence and studies to protect students who are exposed to dating violence can be conducted.