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Counselling Knowledge and Skills in Papua New Guinea: Identifying the Gaps

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Abstract

This paper reports on the counselling knowledge and skills held and utilised by Papua New Guinean counsellors. Twenty-five counsellors from government and non-government sectors, representing all four regions of PNG, participated in individual in-depth interviews and video-recorded simulated counselling sessions. Counselling knowledge was assessed via content analysis of interview data that explored counselling concepts associated with the purpose and practice of counselling. Skills were assessed via the Counselling Skills and Competencies Tool. Results indicated that participants had low levels of counselling knowledge and skills. The paper outlines three key areas that should be the focus of counselling training for PNG counsellors: (1) fundamental knowledge and skills, (2) theories and frameworks for guiding the counselling process, and (3) the PNG cultural context.

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Authors Contribution Statements

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Jane Fowler, Mark Lynch, and Jennifer Larsen. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jane Fowler and Jennifer Larsen and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Services and Social Work and Menzies Health Institute, Griffith University, 68 University Drive, Meadowbrook, QLD, 4131, Australia

    Jane L Fowler

  2. School of Human Services and Social Work, Griffith University, Meadowbrook, QLD, Australia

    Mark P Lynch & Jennifer Larsen

Authors
  1. Jane L Fowler
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  2. Mark P Lynch
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  3. Jennifer Larsen
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Correspondence to Jane L Fowler.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Griffith University Human Ethics Protocol (2018/924) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

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Fowler, J.L., Lynch, M.P. & Larsen, J. Counselling Knowledge and Skills in Papua New Guinea: Identifying the Gaps. Int J Adv Counselling 43, 164–178 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-021-09422-4

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