Int J Adv Couns 6: 143-152 (1983) © 1983, Martinus NijhoffPublishers, The Hague. Printed in the Netherlands
ATTITUDES TOWARD COUNSELLING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
R I C H A R D C. DAY
American University o f Beirut
Summary This article assesses the attitudes of Middle Easterners on both a government and individual level toward the profession of counselling. It is based on two studies. Study 1 presents responses from 10 Middle Eastern countries to a survey questionnaire regarding the status of counselling and the projection for counselling services in the future for each country. Each country stated that counselling was present and projected that counselling services would increase in the future. Study 2 presents the responses to a self-report questionnaire of 40 Middle Eastern college students who had undergone an initial experience in counselling. About 80% of the students reported satisfaction with the services and 80% stated that they would recommend such services to a friend should the need arise. Arguments are made for expanding of counselling services in the Middle East.
Attitudes Toward Counselling in the Middle East Little argument can be found with a statement by Shertzer and Stone (1976) that counselling has had its greatest development within the context of American society. Certainly no other country has displayed more of a commitment to the profession of counselling in terms of resources and job opportunities than has the United States. Recently, however, interest in counselling has grown in countries outside the United States. Tyerman (1959) reported the opening of the first child guidance clinic in Great Britain in 1959. Since that time there has been a rapid development and expansion of counselling services in Great Britain in contexts such as universities (Wren, 1961)~and secondary schools (Woody and Dubner, 1971). Reports of counselling services developing in many other countries have also flourished. France (Ostlund, 1958), Belgium (Ostlund, 1957), Norway (Hansen,
144 1965), Switserland (Stauffer, 1974), the Soviet Union (Gass, 1959), India (Fletcher & Riddle, 1962), Japan (Nishigaki, 1957), and Nigeria (Okon, 1981), to mention but a few, have all reported on counselling services available within each country. Nearly all of the authors that report on counselling services within different nations and cultures stress the importance of taking into account the uniqueness of each respective culture if counselling is to be useful and productive. Given the highly individualistic quality inherent in counselling services, it makes good sense that sociological factors that influence the individual would effect the quality of the counselling relationship that develops within different cultural groups. Little work has been done on the status of counselling in the Middle East. Soliman (1981) notes that counselling services in the Arab world have been a recent development and are not widely present. It is, however, this author's belief that the seeds are present for a rapid proliferation of counselling services in Middle Eastern countries in the near future. The rapid economical development of many Arab countries due to oil revenues has brought with it the need for change and adaptation not only on the technological level but on the psychological level as well. Even if on the surface such change appears to be positive, it still creates within the individual the need to adapt and adjust. This in turn creates in the individual stress and strain. This stress and strain can be seen particularly in the world of work. The young Middle Easterner today is faced with a vastly different world of work than were his or her parents at the same age. It is, therefore, around the question of "what work will I do?" that I feel counselling has as its most likely entry point into the Middle East. It seems clear that the recent turn of events in the Middle East contain within them opportunities for the counselling profession to provide assistance for individuals undergoing rapid change. However, it is no secret to those who practice counselling that it is extremely difficult to bring about change if the person to be changed is unwilling to do so. In light of this the two research projects of this article deal with the feelings and attitudes of Middle Easterners toward counselling. The first study involved the attitudes of governments as reflected by government officials and the second involved the feelings and attitudes of Middle Eastern college students who underwent an initial experience in counselling.
Study 1 A survey was conducted in line with the premise that before counselling services can be implemented on a large scale in the Middle East, an assessment must be made of the receptivity of the region to the profession. The survey involved administering a four question questionnaire to appropriate government officials in ten Middle East countries. The questions that were asked were: (1) What is the
145 current policy of your country regarding the provision of counselling services?, (2) Are counsellors (educational, vocational, or personal) employed in your country?, (3) If counsellors are functioning, where did they receive their training?, and (4) What is your country's projection for counselling services in the future?
Sample The sample was limited to those countries in which Arabic was spoken, except for Iran where Pharsi is spoken, and also to those countries that maintain an embassy in Beirut. The sample then consisted of ten countries: Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.).
Procedure Copies of the questionnaire were prepared in Arabic, French, and English. Graduate students in the field of counselling at the American University of Beirut then made appointments at the respective embassies to have the questionnaire answered. In most cases a person was available at the embassy who was able to provide answers to the questions. The embassy officials held the title of Cultural Attache or Consultant. Information regarding Lebanon was collected from an official in the Ministry of Education. In the cases of Kuwait and Sudan it was possible to gather information from visits to the country and meetings with relevant government officials.1
Results Table 1 presents the responses of the ten countries' officials. In response to the first question, "What is the current policy of your country regarding the provision of counselling services?", nine out of the ten countries reported that their country had a policy that recognized the importance of counselling services. The Algerians were the only country that reported differently, and they stated, "There are few counsellors at the time being: however, the idea is there. There are difficulties that we face in our educational system, and we are more concerned at the present in preparing teachers." In answer to the question, "Are counsellors employed and where do they work?", all countries reported that some counsellors were employed with the most common setting being the school. Qatar and the U.A.E. both reported that counsellors were also at work in hospitals in the area of mental health. The Sudan reported that counsellors were
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147 employed to work in the area of social welfare, working in such areas as family planning and health awareness. Nearly all the countries reported that they were currently sending persons with a BA degree out of their countries for advanced training in counselling, mostly to the United States or Europe. The exception was Iran which specified that special programs were being developed for training counsellors within the structure of the Islamic faith. It is interesting to note that counselling is still recognized in Iran where many Western ideas are being discarded. Finally, and most encouragingly to counselling educators in the Middle East, all of the ten countries indicated that they projected an increase in the provision of counselling services in the future. Many of the officials that were contacted during the survey indicated the belief that counselling, particularly vocational counselling, would play a major role in helping to relieve some of the problems in the effective use of man (and I should add "woman") power.
Discussion
This survey presents evidence of the receptiveness of Middle Eastern countries toward the profession of counselling. It would appear that the profession of counselling has tremendous potential for growth and development in the Middle East. However, this potential can only be realized if the uniqueness of the psychological make-up of the Middle Easterner is recognized and taken into account. As Soliman (1981) has written, "the counsellor in developing countries can be an effective agent of change if he understands the nature of his society" (p. 224). Equipped with a sensitivity to the nature of Middle Eastern society, the field of counselling appears to be in a position to make a useful and helpful contribution to this region.
Study 2 Tyler (1969) has noted that the earliest research in the field of counselling has dealt with attitudes of clients toward counselling services after having received such services. Anderson (1949) and Gaudet, Carli, and Denneger (1950) are among the first researchers to publish data relating to this issue using samples of military veterans as subjects. It was found that between 80 and 90 percent of those veterans who had received counselling services reported full or partial satisfaction with the service. Similar findings were later found when samples of American college students were surveyed. Blum and Sullivan (1953), Porter (1957), and Miller (1952) also found that similar to the veterans about 80 percent of college students reported being satisfied with the counselling services that they had received.
148 Since, as previously stated, counselling must be relevant to the culture in which it is practiced, it could not be assumed that because Americans generally reported satisfaction with counselling services the same would be true with Middle Easterners. Along this line the author conducted a research study to investigate the attitudes toward counselling of Middle Eastern college students who underwent an initial experience in counselling.
Sample The sample for the study included 40 undergraduate students from a variety of Middle Eastern countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Sudan, etc.) enrolled in education courses at the American University of Beirut. The students were told that a research project was being conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of counselling using a group of Middle Eastern students as subjects. Furthermore, students were given partial credit for meeting course requirements in return for their participation in the study. The subjects were required to be fluent in Arabic in order to participate in the study. A data sheet was administered before counselling began, and it was established that none of the students had ever received counselling services before the time of this study.
Procedure Two female graduate students in the counselling program at the American University of Beirut provided the counselling services. Both of the graduate students were Lebanese and spoke English and Arabic fluently. They each were supervised for one hour per week by a professor of counselling (the author) throughout the five weeks of this study. Counselling was provided on an individual basis for each participating student, once a week, over a period of five weeks. Each session was scheduled for one hour. Students were randomly assigned to one of the two counsellors. In addition each of the counsellors randomly assigned half of her clients to English language counselling and half to Arabic language counselling. At the end of the five weeks, each of the 40 students had completed five counselling sessions with no attrition. A questionnaire was distributed to each student asking for anonymous responses to the following: (1) Please indicate your reaction to the counselling you received. (2) Would you recommend that a friend of yours should receive counselling services should the need arise?, and (3) Other comments you would like to make? All 40 students completed the questionnaire.
149 Results
In Table 2 are the responses to the forementioned questionnaire. According to the responses, 82.5% of the students were satisfied with the counselling that they had received and 80% would recommend counselling to a friend should the need arise. Comments from students reporting satisfaction with counselling were: I like it a lot because it really helps to talk things out in a logical way. It helped me a lot in seeing clearly some of the things that were a source of confusion to me. And Counselling has been quite helpful to me. It was good to have a chance to talk to somebody and to be listened to. An example of a comment judged to be neutral toward the counselling experience was" I would think that counselling is quite useful when one is under stress because talking things out releases tension. However, I do not think that counselling would be useful with introverted people who did not wish to talk about themselves. Typical positive responses to the question of whether to recommend counselling to a friend were: Yes, because it is helpful. One feels good when he realizes that somebody cares about his problems. And I highly recommend it because it is really necessary for some people to know what it is, especially since a large number of them do not have any idea about it. Second, it is really helpful to feel that there are people who care and are ready to help. The student who expressed negative feelings cited the short period of time (five weeks) that she had been counselled as a weakness. No student mentioned a problem with the counsellor or the type of counselling relationship that had developed. It also should be noted that 20% of the sample were males and no mention was made by any student about the gender of the counsellor affecting the relationship or the language in which they were counselled. Table 2. Responsesof 40 Middle Eastern collegestudents to an attitudinal surveyregarding counselling after an initial counselling experience
Positive Neutral Negative
For self
for a friend
82.5% 14.0% 3.5 %
80% 20% 0°70
150 Discussion The responses of the students in this sample are very similar to the responses of the samples of American subjects cited earlier. Most of the students left the counselling relationship feeling satisfied with what had happened. Both counsellors reported that students began the sessions seeming hesitant but quickly became comfortable and freely discussed problems. The counselling sessions dealt with such issues as vocational choice, family pressures, relationships with the opposite sex, and study habits. Such topics are no doubt common to young people in most countries and cultures. The positive responses of the MiddleEastern students to the counselling experience provides a modest example of the receptiveness of a certain segment of the Middle Eastern society to utilizing counselling services.
Conclusion The current economic trend in the Arab world has brought with it rapid technological change. As previously stated this advancement causes strain on the psychological level. Even in those countries that do not have abundant petroleum resources there can be no doubt that there is a definite impact on the expectations of people due to advances in communication (television, telephone, etc.) and travel. In addition, Middle Eastern society is changing to a more industrial economic base (Abdalla, 1981) which in turn creates a great diversity in work roles. The combination of these forces creates in this author's opinion fertile ground for the advancement of the counselling profession. Both studies described in this article provide evidence that the Arab world is ready for counselling. Each of the countries surveyed indicated that counselling was present and projected a need for more counselling services in the future. On the individual level, a large percentage of the Middle Eastern college students who took part in an initial counselling experience felt that they had benefited from the experience and would recommend such an experience to a friend. Although the sample is representative of a select portion of Middle Eastern society, it is equally true that some of the students in this group will rise in the future to be in leadership positions in the Middle East. It is worth repeating that the potential for growth and development and counselling in the Middle East can only be realized if the uniqueness of Middle Eastern cultures are recognized and taken into account. However, the basic need to talk over a problem with someone who can provide understanding and effectively communicate strategies for bringing about desired change seems to cross all cultures. The poet W.H. Auden expressed the condition of our modern world quite eloquently when he wrote "we must love each other, or die". The world is
151 indeed b e c o m i n g smaller a n d m o r e t h a n ever before people are d e p e n d i n g on each other for their survival. As East and West interface o n a m o r e f r e q u e n t a n d personal level, it is this a u t h o r ' s hope that counselling as a profession can add a positive element to the force of life.
Acknowledgements The a u t h o r wishes to gratefully acknowledge the work of Lina G h a l a y i n i in Study 1, a n d the work of A m a l N a j j a r a n d S a m a r Saab for their c o n t r i b u t i o n s to Study 2.
Note It should be added that conducting research in the embassies of Beirut presents a researcher with problems not found in other settings. It is with deep regret that we wish to acknowledge the gracious cooperation of the Iraqi official who died in an explosion that destroyed the Iraqi embassy in Beirut.
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