Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine psychological counselors 'candidates' psychological counseling self-efficacy in terms of various descriptive characteristics. Participants of this study were 431 senior students studying in the Guidance and Psychological Counseling Undergraduate Programs of 14 different Turkish universities. Of all the participants, 71% (306) were female and 29% (125) were male. The age range was 20-28, the average age was 22.16, and the standard deviation of age was .99. The data were collected using Counselor Activity Self-Efficacy Scale and Personal Information Form created by researchers. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t-test were used in the study. IBM SPSS Statistic 22 package program was used for analysis of the data. According to the findings, counselor candidates' perceptions of counseling self-efficacy differed based on their evaluations counseling related courses that were taken prior to the practicum course and, their post practicum evaluations of the counseling performance they showed during the practicum course. Participants who had already taken the multicultural counseling course had significantly higher counseling self-efficacy than those who had not taken the course. Psychological counselor candidates' take vocational courses, psychological counseling practices and take culturally sensitive counseling courses, contributing to the increase of psychological counseling self-efficacy.