Efficiency of spiritual counseling and guidance services in prisons: A qualitative research (Ağrı case)

Especially with the scientific discoveries and developments that took place in the last few centuries, humanity has made a leap thousands of times more than the total accumulation it has achieved so far. This change and transformation has brought about the reshaping of our perspective on life, universe, facts, individual and society. Humanity has gone through many different phases and finally discovered that neither he nor the universe consists of only a material structure and visible bonds. Psychological elements are being illuminated day by day, and the spiritual dimension of the human being is moving towards a tangible and visible point day by day. Today, science has discovered with what feelings and emotions an individual performs a behavior. The emotions and psychology of a person's reaction to a situation can be understood by observing the changes in his body. As the spiritual dimension of man is discovered, the codes of how he should continue his life in accordance with his creation and in the most peaceful way come to light over time. In this context, our study wanted to examine the efficiency of spiritual counseling and guidance services carried out in penitentiary institutions on the field of spiritual counseling and guidance, which is a branch of spirituality, which has been focused on in the last century. In this research, an answer is sought to the question, "Are spiritual counseling and guidance services carried out efficiently in penitentiary institutions?" It will be the subject of our thesis to reveal spiritual counseling and guidance services in penal institutions and how these services are carried out in the context of efficiency, deficiencies in spiritual counseling and guidance services and solutions. It will be the aim of our thesis to contribute to the efficiency of spiritual counseling and guidance services provided in penitentiary institutions by making recommendations and suggestions through analysis and evaluations. In our thesis study, a conceptual framework was created by using the literature review technique. In addition, structured interview technique, which is one of the methods in qualitative research, was used. As a result of the data obtained, it has been determined that while the efficiency is high in some of the studies carried out in spiritual counseling and guidance services carried out in penitentiary institutions, the efficiency is low in some studies. The factors that reduce productivity are listed and solutions are discussed. Keywords: Spirituality, Spiritual Counseling and Guidance, Penitentiary Institution, Efficiency.