School counsellors' resilience in Turkey: A phenomenological study


GÜLER D., CEYHAN E.

JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGISTS AND COUNSELLORS IN SCHOOLS, vol.30, no.2, pp.185-201, 2020 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 30 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1017/jgc.2019.16
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGISTS AND COUNSELLORS IN SCHOOLS
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, EBSCO Education Source, Psycinfo
  • Page Numbers: pp.185-201
  • Keywords: school counsellor, resilience, job stress, protective factors, BURNOUT
  • Anadolu University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Resilience is a crucial personal characteristic of school counsellors to protect and maintain their wellbeing against the effects of occupational stress factors in school settings. However, there has been a lack of research investigating school counsellors' resilience in Turkey. Therefore, this study aims to explore the resilience of school counsellors working in schools with at-risk students in terms of stress and protective factors. The study was conducted using a qualitative research method with a phenomenological approach. The data were collected through semistructured interviews from 10 school counsellors working in schools with at-risk students. The data analysis was carried out with an inductive approach using an NVivo 11 software package program. The analysis revealed a variety of findings, both positive and negative, regarding the resilience of school counsellors. In this scope, three interrelated themes emerged as 'Occupational Stressors', 'Personal Factors: Strength versus Vulnerability', and 'Positive and Negative Results: Happiness and Satisfaction versus Helplessness and Burnout'. The results show that school counsellors working in schools with at-risk students experience a variety of occupational stresses and that their experience of happiness and satisfaction, or helplessness and burnout, depends on a level of strengths or weaknesses with reference to personal factors.