A comparison of perceptions of counselling in Ireland and the United States

The present study compared 50 Irish and 50 US graduate and undergraduate psychology and counselling students on the ways they rated counsellors, counselling, and group counselling on a semantic differential. Males were also contrasted to females on these concepts. A 2 2 2 2 2 MANOVA was used for the data analysis where the independent variables were country, class, and gender, and the dependent variables were the evaluative and potency scales of the semantic differential for counsellors, counselling, and group counselling. The Irish sample rated the potency of counselling significantly higher as did women. Counselling graduates evaluated group counselling and counsellors significantly higher than psychology undergraduates.