Differences in Counselling practices between Male and Female Practitioners

Abstract

Counselling skills and related factors of the practitioners / counsellors in a specific Indian context were addressed. The objectives of the research were to study the challenges faced by counsellors in their practices of counselling and to identify the differences in counselling practices between male and female counsellors. Research method- used was the purposive sample of size 60 counsellors (25- 55 years) in an online survey, using skilled counsellor scale. The hypotheses of the study were: the overall counselling would be different between male and female counsellors and the counselling skills of male and female counsellors would belong to different domains. The result of the study indicated that the counsellors showed significant gender difference in their counselling skills. Gender is the factor affecting the counselling skills. The counsellors with more than ten years’ experience in counselling showed better counselling skills. The female counsellors were using more skills during counselling like- attending skills, questioning, and reflecting, decision making and contracting.