School Psychological Counselors' Opinions about Colleague Solidarity Group Process: A Qualitative

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the opinions of school psychological counselors regarding the colleague solidarity group process carried out by Amasya Guidance and Research Center. The study group of this qualitative research study consists of 19 school psychological counselors working at various educational levels in Amasya province. The study group was selected by purposeful sampling method. A personal information form prepared for school psychological counselors and a semi-structured interview form consisting of 5 open-ended questions were used to collect data. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data. As a result, 4 themes and 10 sub-themes were obtained. Research results showed that the collegiate group process had positive personal and professional effects on school counselors. At the end of this process, it was observed that the participants developed different ways of coping with the challenging cases they encountered or may encounter in their professional lives. In addition, it was observed that they frequently shared their feelings and experiences while working with these challenging cases with their colleagues. In this context, peer solidarity groups are thought to be an effective and functional method that can be used to cope with the problems in the professional lives of school psychological counselors.