Investigation of relationships between self-efficacy levels and personality characteristics of psychological counselors candidates and level of basic counseling skills

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between counseling candidates' self-efficacy and personality traits and their level of competence in basic counseling skills. Within the scope of the study, whether the average scores of the self-efficacy, personality traits and basic counseling skills of the psychological counselor candidates differ according to the socio-demographic variables; The predictive power of self-efficacy and personality traits of counseling counselors to their level of competence regarding basic counseling skills was examined. At the same time, the opinions of the counselor candidates about using micro-assistance skills and conducting / conducting psychological counseling were examined. Mixed method was used in the study. The sample of the study consists of 231 psychological counselor candidates from 4th grade who are studying in the Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance in İzmir, Manisa, Düzce, Sakarya and Aydın provinces. The sample of the qualitative section consists of 129 psychological counselor candidates from the same sample group, who agreed to voluntarily participate. Appropriate sampling method was used in determining the sample. In the study, "Counseling Skills Discrimination Scale", "Psychological Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale", "Five Factor Personality Scale", "Personal Information Form" developed by the researcher and "Semi-Structured Interview Form" were used as data collection tools. The analysis of the data was done through the SPSS 22.0 program. "T-Test", "One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)", "Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis", "Multiple Regression Analysis" and "Content Analysis" techniques were used in the analyzes. As a result of the study, it was seen that gender and general weighted grade point average, compatibility and responsibility among personality traits were significant predictors of the level of competence of counselor candidates for basic counseling skills. It was determined that the psychological counseling skills that psychological counselors use effectively, have difficulties and want to improve are gathered around content and emotion reflection skills. Counseling candidates were able to work more effectively with extroverted / self-opening / talkative clients on their perceptions of the clients' characteristics and the issues they had difficulties during the counseling process; It was concluded that they had difficulty working with introverted / non-speaking / non-self-open clients. Within the scope of the problem area, the subject that psychological counselors work effectively and have difficulties in working is the clients with anxiety problems. Another group that psychological counselors have difficulty working with is dangerous clients and risky group; They are individuals who have been abused or have a crime of abuse, who have been involved in any crime, who have a tendency to commit suicide. All the findings were discussed by examining the revelant literature. Keywords: Basic counseling skills, five factor personality traits, psychological counselor self-efficacy, psychological counselor, personality.