Reflective practice and the conceptualization of implicit theories of counseling and psychotherapy in psychology faculty members. A qualitative perspective from the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

This research qualitatively characterized the subjective concept of counseling and psychotherapy of faculty working at a public university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the Middle East, and how they embraced this concept when teaching psychology related courses. Using Grounded Theory Analysis as a general methodological framework, this study was based on the analysis of 14 face-to-face in-depth interviews with psychology faculty members. The results revealed that the interviewees regarded the teaching of psychology and counseling as a relational process that leads to personal growth, both for the patient/student and for the faculty/therapist, implying that both cultural and intersubjective dimensions should be considered. As further implications, it is concluded that all the psychologists interviewed stated that the relational and ethnographic dimensions of counseling should be incorporated into training psychologists in the UAE.