Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar (Dec 2020)
[Article title missing]
Abstract
With advancements in technology, proliferation of online counseling services has recently become observable. The purpose of the current study was to reveal what people know about face-to-face and online counseling and to determine the direction of their preferences for both. The participants of the current study, which is of a qualitative case study, were 25 people, ranging in age from 17 to 49, of different professions (soldiers, security officers, secretaries, drivers, officers, housekeepers, housewives, high school-university students and academicians). While 4 of the participants reported experiencing face-to-face counseling services, 21 participants did not report receiving one. Besides, none of the participants reported receiving online counseling services. The time that the participants want to allocate for online counseling services was found to be more than the time that they want to allocate for face-to-face counseling. The top two methods that 17 participants preferred, being of the opinion that they would have a warm ambiance while receiving counseling, were video conference (7), and chatting (5). Finally, it was also observed that most of the participants (20) preferred face-to-face counseling services due to the existence of active participation and non-verbal reactions such as gestures and facial expressions, and very few of them (5) preferred online counseling services because of anonymity and availability. Results in general showed that individuals were eager to receive online counseling and find it more useful in terms of finance and availability.
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