An investigation of the problem solving skills of religious officials towards the problems they face in religious services

The purpose of this study is to examine the problems that religious officials face during their religious services and the problem solving skills they have developed for these problems. The qualitative part of this research, designed as an exploratory sequential mixed method, was conducted using the phenomenology design and the maximum variation sampling technique was applied in order to comprehensively understand the perspective of religious officials. In this context, semi-structured interviews were initially conducted with 20 religious officials working as preachers, Qur'an course instructors, imam-hatip in mosques, Qur'an courses, Family and Religious Guidance Offices and Youth Centers affiliated to the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Erzurum and its districts. In the analysis of qualitative data, content analysis was performed using MAXQDA 24 program. As a result of the analysis, five themes were obtained within the scope of the determinations regarding the problems faced by religious officials in religious services and the solutions applied: "problem areas encountered in religious services, problem solving process, characteristics that should be found in religious officials for problem solving skills, in-service trainings and their effect, requests and suggestions". According to the qualitative results of the research, it was determined that religious officials face various difficulties in reaching the target audience in religious service. Family problems in the society stand out as an important issue waiting for a solution. In addition, it was seen that the most important feature of a religious worker who can solve problems effectively should have interdisciplinary knowledge. It has been determined that religious officials have limited abilities in the problem solving process and therefore they refer to relevant institutions and organizations to get support. However, it was concluded that the religious education of religious officials contributed significantly to solving the problems they faced in their lives. In the light of qualitative findings and the related literature, the researcher developed the "Problem Solving Skills Scale for the Problems Faced by Religious Officers in Religious Services" to be used in the quantitative phase of the study. Validity and reliability analyses of the scale were conducted. According to the results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the scale consists of 27 items and exhibits a five-factor structure as "Solving family and personal problems", "Solution approaches based on religious sources", "Guiding individual and social problems", "Religious problem solving and guidance", "Applying religious and moral values in problem solving". This factor structure explains 61.259% of the total variance. These findings support that the developed scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool to comprehensively analyze the problem solving skills of religious officials. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, it was determined that the related model was sufficient to explain the theoretical structure. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient calculated for the whole scale was .94. The 27-item five-point Likert-type scale was administered to 566 religious officials working as preachers, Qur'an course instructors, imam-hatip in mosques, Qur'an courses, Family and Religious Guidance offices and Youth Centers in Erzurum province and its districts in 2023-2024, selected by convenience sampling method. In the analysis of the data, parametric and nonparametric tests were used after removing outliers. Quantitative research findings reveal that the problem solving skills of religious officials do not show a significant difference according to the variables of graduation, job status and seniority. According to the gender variable, it was determined that female religious officials scored higher than male religious officials in some sub-dimensions. In terms of age group, it was seen that religious officials between the ages of 30-39 had the highest average across the scale. According to the type of duty, preachers and Qur'an course instructors scored higher in the sub-dimensions of "Religious problem solving and guidance" and "Applying religious and moral values in problem solving" than imam-hatipip. When the working institution variable was evaluated, it was determined that the employees of the Religious Youth Center and the Family and Religious Guidance Office stood out in the "Religious problem solving and guidance" sub-dimension, while those working in the Qur'an course scored higher in the "Applying religious and moral values in problem solving" sub-dimension.