Examining the relationship between psychological counseling skills, subjective well-being and empathic tendencies of psychological counselor candidates

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between psychological counseling skills of the psychological counselor candidates and their subjective well-being and empathic tendencies. There were 283 university students at the 4th grade level as a participant of the study. These participants were selected from the Faculty of Education Psychological Counseling and Guidance Department of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Pamukkale University, Çukurova University, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy and Gaziantep University at the 2018-2019 education and training year. In this research, Physical and Psychological Listening Skills Evaluation Scale, Subjective Well-Being Scale and Personal Information Form were used as data collection tools. When analyzing the data, The Independent Group T-test was used to understand whether there is a significant difference or not, Pearson Correlation Analysis was used to understand the relations between parameters, Multiple Regression Analysis was used to find out on which scale parameters predict the psychological consultancy skills of the participants. SPSS 21.0 program was used to analyze the data. The results of the data showed that there is a significant difference in the total and sub-dimension scores of the scales according to variables such as gender, age, number of consultations accompanied by the supervisors, number of counseling sessions, number of counselors with different genders, satisfaction from the department in which they are studying. It is concluded that; female psychological counselor candidates' physical listening skills are significantly higher than male psychological counselor candidates; the counselor candidates who performed more than two consultations accompanied by a supervisor have higher scores at physical listening skills comparing to the candidates performed any consultation accompanied by a supervisor; the counselor candidates who performed more than nine consultations accompanied by a supervisor have significantly higher scores at physical listening skills comparing to the candidates who performed none or 1-4 consultations accompanied by a supervisor; the candidates who are satisfied with their departments in which they are studying in have remarkably better physical listening skills, psychological listening skills and subjective well-being than those candidates who are not satisfied with their departments. According to the correlation and regression results; there is a positive and significant relationship between empathetic tendency and physical listening skills, but empathetic tendency does not have a significant effect on physical listening skills; there is a positive and significant relationship between subjective well-being and physical listening skills; the psychological counselor candidates who have a high level of subjective well-being have high level of physical listening skills; there is no significant relationship between subjective well-being and psychological listening skills. As a result, focusing on the improvement of subjective well-being and empathetic tendencies of the psychological counselor candidates in the psychological consultancy education is important. Key Words: Empathetic Tendency, Psychological Counseling Skills, Psychological Counselor Candidates, Subjective Well-being