Turkish counselor trainees’ experiences regarding experiential groups: A qualitative study

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine Turkish counselor trainees’ experiences in participating in an experiential training group. The phenomenological research design was used to understand counselor trainees’ experiences in experiential group. The 18 undergraduate counseling students (14 female and 4 male) enrolled in a group counseling course were the participants of the study. The data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews after the completion of twelve- week experiential counseling groups. Content analysis was used to analyze the data and according to results, three main themes emerged: a) perceptions, b) contributions and c) problems. Under the perceptions theme emotions and metaphors codes emerged. Vocational and personal contributions were two main codes emerged under the contributions theme. And under the problems theme, two codes emerged as group structure and group process. The findings were discussed in the light of the literature and recommendations for counselor educators and researchers are presented.