Learning styles in counseling: a scoping review of the empirical evidence

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ABSTRACT The concept of learning styles is popular among educators and the general public; however, many have highlighted the lack of empirical evidence supporting its relevance. We conducted a systematic literature search to identify the scope of empirical studies on learning styles applied to counseling and counseling education. Only 17 empirical studies were identified, indicating a relative lack of research. Four studies reported on the application of learning styles in treatments (of either the client, the counselor, and/or the treatment), suggesting that matching learning styles of intervention and client might be beneficial. Thirteen studies reported on learning styles in training settings (of students and their supervisor/teacher or field instructor). Although students’ learning styles appeared flexible, social work students frequently reported an active experiential learning style and counseling students as well as more experienced clinicians appeared more abstract and reflective. The majority of studies were cross-sectional survey studies and many reported minimal psychometric data on the used self-report measures of learning styles, which appeared to conflate the concepts of learning preference and learning ability. At present, there is no adequate evidence to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into counseling practice or training.