The Impact of Personal Therapy on the Emotional Maturity and Professional Identity Formation of Psychology Students: a Baseline Study
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of personal therapy on the emotional maturity and professional identity formation of psychology students, assessing whether therapy engagement enhances self-awareness, emotional resilience, and stress management, and whether it should be integrated into psychology training programmes.A cross-sectional baseline study was conducted with 173 psychology students (aged 17-21 years) from multiple universities in Ukraine.A stratified random sampling method was used to ensure participant diversity.The study employed validated psychodiagnostic instruments, including the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ-IV), the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Maslach Burnout Inventory -Student Survey (MBI-SS), and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire -Short Form (TEIQue-SF), among others.Data were collected through administration an offline and online survey, tests and scales containing both closed and open-ended questions.The analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis (Pearson's r), independent t-tests, and thematic analysis of open-ended responses.Findings indicate that psychology students exhibit moderate levels of emotional maturity and professional identity clarity, yet a substantial proportion struggles with emotional resilience (32.94% low), burnout (29.47% high), and self-compassion (31.21% low).Correlation analysis revealed a positive association between personal therapy engagement and professional identity clarity (𝑟 = 0.45, 𝑝 < .01)and self-compassion (𝑟 = 0.37, 𝑝 < .01),while therapy engagement was negatively correlated with burnout (𝑟 = -0.44,𝑝 < .01)and anxiety (𝑟 = -0.20,𝑝 < .05).Independent t-tests confirmed that students who participated in therapy reported significantly higher professional identity clarity, lower burnout, and greater emotional resilience Věda a perspektivy № 4(47) 2025
Source: Věda a perspektivy
Author: Ruslana Zosiak
Institution: Dragomanov Ukrainian State University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4409998140