Examining the effective psychological counselor qualifications, emotion regulation difficulty and self-compassion levels in terms of various variables

In this study, the relationships between effective psychological counselor qualities (competence, energy, flexibility, being supportive, goodwill and self-awareness), difficulties in emotional regulation (openness, goals, impulse, strategies and rejection) and self-compassion of psychological counselors (self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness and over-identification) were examined. In addition, in the study, it was examined whether the total and sub-dimensions of effective psychological counselor qualifications, difficulty in emotion regulation and self-compassion differ according to various variables (gender, the years of experience in the profession, education level, institution, the type of institution, occupational satisfaction, receiving supervision in educational life, taking group counseling and psychological counseling). In this study, correlational design was used. The participants consist of a total of 674 psychological counselors (542 female and 132 male) working in kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, high school, Guidance and Research Centers in Ankara province Yenimahalle, Gölbaşı, Çankaya and Etimesgut during the 2020-2021 Academic Year. Effective Psychological Counselor Qualities Evaluation Scale (İkiz & Totan, 2014), Emotion Regulation Difficulties Scale- Short Form (Yiğit & Guzey Yiğit, 2017), Self-Compassion Scale (Akın, Akın & Abacı, 2007) and Personal Information Form -which is developed by the researcher- were used in this study. The mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage values of the variables were computed with descriptive statistical techniques. Independent samples t Test, One Way Anova, Pearson Correlation Test, Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis techniques were used for the analyses. Reliability analyses for the scales were also performed. According to the findings, effective psychological counselor qualifications and self-compassion levels of the psychological counselors were found to be high, and their emotion regulation difficulty levels were found to be low. It was found that effective psychological counselor qualifications did not differ significantly according to gender, education level (undergraduate and graduate) and institution (kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, high school and RAM) but it was found that there were significant differences according to the years of experience in the profession, the type of institution (state and private), occupational satisfaction, receiving supervision in educational life, taking group counseling and psychological counseling. Difficulty in emotion regulation did not differ significantly according to gender, education level, institution, type of institution, receiving supervision and psychological counseling, on the other hand, it was found that there was a significant difference according to the years of experience in the profession, being satisfied with the occupational and taking group counseling courses. It was found that self-compassion differed significantly according to gender, years of experience in the profession, type of institution, being satisfied with the occupational and taking group counseling courses but it was found that there was no significant difference in terms of education level, institution, receiving supervision and psychological counseling service. It was found that effective psychological counselor qualities were significantly, moderately and inversely related to difficulties in emotion regulation, as well as moderately and positively related to self-compassion. It was found that the qualities of effective psychological counselors were significantly, negatively correlated with the sub-dimensions of difficulty in emotion regulation, rejection and goals weakly, with impulses and strategies at a moderate level, and with openness at a high level. It was found that there were moderate significant correlations among the sub-dimensions of self-compassion, self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation and mindfulness. According to the results of the hierarchical regression analysis, it was found that self-compassion explained 22% of the effective psychological counselor's qualities and 26% of it with emotion regulation difficulties. Mindfulness, openness, isolation and impulse sub-dimensions were found to be significant predictors of effective psychological counselor qualities, respectively.