The opinions of psychological counselors about the their qualification counseling process with parents who have children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder aged 0-3

In this study, it was aimed to examine the opinions of psychological counsellors about the counselling process with parents who have children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder aged 0-3. One of the qualitative research methods, the phenomenological design was used in the study. Thirteen volunteer counsellors who have experience in counselling with parents of children diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. In the study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data collected were analyzed with the Nvivo10 program. As a result, when the findings obtained from this study are examined, it is seen that psychological counsellors do not have enough information about the diagnosis of ASD and the post-diagnosis process and it turned out that the special education and ASD courses they took at the university were not enough to be well-equipped in this field. Psychological counsellors also mentioned the importance of gaining experience in order to be knowledgeable and competent in the field of ASD. Based on the findings of this study, it is thought that most of the psychological counsellors have negative self-efficacy thoughts related to inadequacy. In addition, most of the psychological counsellors stated that they felt more competent to demonstrate the skill of "empathy".