Pastoral counsellors' value systems and moral judgement development : a practical theological study
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Authors
Hestenes, Mark Erling, 1949-
Issue Date
1996-11
Type
Thesis
Language
Keywords
Defining Issues Test , Moral development judgement , Practical theological study , Rokeach Value Survey , South African pastoral counsellors , Value systems
Alternative Title
Abstract
Recent literature by several eminent psychotherapists ·such as
Bergin and Beutler argues that counsellors' personal values are
probably the greatest influence on the success and outcome of
therapy and that the counsellor tends to convert the client to
the counsellor's values. This literature provided strong support
for this researcher's contention of the need for similar studies
in pastoral counselling. The researcher was particularly
concerned about the role of pastoral counsellors' value systems
and moral judgement development in counselling situations. The
researcher selected the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rest
Defining Issues Test as instruments to test a sample of South
African pastoral counsellors in this regard.
The research questions addressed were as follows.
Firstly, what are the value systems of a sample of pastoral
counsellors in the South African context?
Secondly, what are the moral judgement development levels of the
pastoral counsellors?
Thirdly, what is the relationship between the rank ordering of
values and pastoral counsellors' levels of moral judgement
development?
Fourthly, what implications could these variables have for
pastoral-client pairing in pastoral counselling?
The chief findings were as follows.
Firstly, the pastoral counsellors were shown to have conservative
value systems with a preference for introspective terminal values
over social terminal values.
Secondly, the pastoral counsellors had a P score of 39.6 on the
Defining Issues Test. This compares favourably with Asian
university students who score between 36-40 as opposed to
American university students who have a mean P score of 42.6. The
researcher concluded that the conservative religious ideology of the sample helped to explain the low P scores somewhat.
Thirdly, the Spearman correlational coefficient indicated little
correlation between the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rest
Defining Issues Test.
Fourthly, both instruments indicated that the conservative nature
of the pastoral counsellors would no doubt make them very
effective counsellors in most denominations. They would tend to
counsel in support of the status quo in the church. A major
recommendation of the study was the need for further pastoral
counsellor education in dealing with moral values issues.
Description
Citation
Hestenes, Mark Erling, 1949- (1996) Pastoral counsellors' value systems and moral judgement development : a practical theological study, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16942>