Coping strategies of counselling professionals

Abstract

This research seeks to inquire into the various strategies adopted by Singaporean counselling professionals in coping with occupational stress. The focus is on determining whether these coping strategies vary with age, gender, ethnicity, years of professional experience, different organisation types and stressors. To provide a range of different counselling-organisation cultures, private and government organisations (agencies/centres, clinics and schools) were selected for this research. A questionnaire, the Occupational Stress Coping Scale, was designed to identify the coping strategies and the type of organisational stressors that counselling professionals experienced. Findings showed that counselling professionals appear to cope using problem-focused and non-productive strategies. Age appears to be a significant factor in the choice of coping strategies. Gender and organisation stressors are contributing factors. Implications of the study as well as recommendations for future research were also discussed.