Pastoral counsellors' value systems and moral judgement development : a practical theological study
Year: 1996
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Recent literature by several eminent psychotherapists ·such as \nBergin and Beutler argues that counsellors' personal values are \nprobably the greatest influence on the success and outcome of \ntherapy and that the counsellor tends to convert the client to \nthe counsellor's values. This literature provided strong support \nfor this researcher's contention of the need for similar studies \nin pastoral counselling. The researcher was particularly \nconcerned about the role of pastoral counsellors' value systems \nand moral judgement development in counselling situations. The \nresearcher selected the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rest \nDefining Issues Test as instruments to test a sample of South \nAfrican pastoral counsellors in this regard. \nThe research questions addressed were as follows. \nFirstly, what are the value systems of a sample of pastoral \ncounsellors in the South African context? \nSecondly, what are the moral judgement development levels of the \npastoral counsellors? \nThirdly, what is the relationship between the rank ordering of \nvalues and pastoral counsellors' levels of moral judgement \ndevelopment? \nFourthly, what implications could these variables have for \npastoral-client pairing in pastoral counselling? \nThe chief findings were as follows. \nFirstly, the pastoral counsellors were shown to have conservative \nvalue systems with a preference for introspective terminal values \nover social terminal values. \nSecondly, the pastoral counsellors had a P score of 39.6 on the \nDefining Issues Test. This compares favourably with Asian \nuniversity students who score between 36-40 as opposed to \nAmerican university students who have a mean P score of 42.6. The \nresearcher concluded that the conservative religious ideology of the sample helped to explain the low P scores somewhat. \nThirdly, the Spearman correlational coefficient indicated little \ncorrelation between the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rest \nDefining Issues Test. \nFourthly, both instruments indicated that the conservative nature \nof the pastoral counsellors would no doubt make them very \neffective counsellors in most denominations. They would tend to \ncounsel in support of the status quo in the church. A major \nrecommendation of the study was the need for further pastoral \ncounsellor education in dealing with moral values issues.
Author: Mark Hestenes
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2308213939