COUNSELOR TRAINING, ANXIETY, AND COUNSELING SELF-EFFICACY: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS FROM THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY

Social Behavior and Personality, 2004 by Al-Darmaki, Fatima R

In UAE culture, provision of psychological counseling services is a relatively new profession in comparison to the western culture. The need for counseling became prominent in UAE society as a result of the rapid social and economic changes which have taken place within the last 30 years. Such changes have led to deeper changes in the values, beliefs, and role expectations of individuals, which may - in turn - affect their psychological health, especially for those who may not have been able to adjust to these changes. Although the stigma attached to mental illness and cultural barriers to seeking professional psychological help in UAE society remains resistant to change - despite the availability of psychological services - (Al-Darmaki, 2003; Sayed, 2002), willingness to seek counseling, tolerance of stigma, and confidence in mental-health practitioners have been found especially among younger and more educated individuals in the UAE university (Al-Darmaki, 2003).

Unlike counselors' training in the United States and other countries, preparation of counselors in UAE society is carried out during undergraduate education. At the UAE University, for example, two programs are responsible for training counselors at the bachelor level. The first one is a Psychology Program and the other one is a Human Services and Counseling Program, which is a new training program. There are several reasons for such emphasis on training counselors in UAE at the undergraduate level. Among these reasons are: a) the observed increased need for provision of professional psychological help in society; b) the shortage of practicing psychologists in various settings; and c) the unavailability of graduate level counseling programs in the country.

In UAE society, psychology is still considered "the study of insanity". This misconception of psychology and related fields among the public seems to contribute to male students' decision to avoid studying psychology. Female students, on the other hand, express interest in studying psychology and counseling in order to serve the community after graduation. The tendency among most male students to enter specialties other than psychology will lead to more female psychologists in UAE society in the future. The impact of the gender of psychological health providers on the general public's willingness to seek help has not been investigated. However, systematic practical observations have indicated a minimal impact of gender on clients' willingness to seek and receive psychological help. Clients seem to express interest in seeing samegender psychologists only when they bring to counseling sensitive issues such as sexual difficulties.

Training at the UAE University Psychology Program is conducted in two settings; schools and hospitals. Students-in-training are prepared over two practicum semesters to perform counseling and clinical tasks under the supervision of PhD level psychologists, which can be considered an equivalent to a master level training in the provision of psychological services.