The degree of possession and practice of guidance and counseling skills and techniques in the Sultanate of Oman with religious guides

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the degree of possession and practice of guidance and counseling skills and techniques by religious guides in the Sultanate of Oman, through two main axes: the cognitive aspect (possession of skills and techniques), and the applied aspect (actual practice), in addition to revealing the differences in possessing and practicing these skills based on some demographic variables such as gender, years of experience and specialization. The researcher used the descriptive analytical method by constructing a questionnaire for the guidance skills and techniques of religious guides, which was applied to a sample of guides and preachers working in the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the Sultanate of Oman, numbering (213). The study results showed that the level of possession by religious guides (cognitive aspect) of guidance and counseling skills and guidance techniques was medium, while the degree of possession of counseling techniques was weak. Furthermore, there were no differences in the degree of possession (cognitive aspect) of guidance and counseling skills and techniques attributed to the gender variable, educational level variable, and specialization variable. However, there were differences in the level of knowledge of guidance and counseling techniques that varied according to years of experience, favoring the (1-5) years category. The results also indicated that the degree of practice of guidance and counseling skills and techniques was medium. The study also revealed statistically significant differences in the practice of guidance and counseling skills favoring males, while there were no differences regarding the two dimensions of guidance techniques and counseling techniques. The results also showed that there were differences in the degree of practice of guidance and counseling skills, as well as guidance techniques, depending on the experience variable, favoring the categories with longer experience, whereas there were no differences for the experience variable regarding counseling techniques. Similarly, for the educational qualification variable, there were no differences in the dimension of guidance and counseling skills, but there were differences in the dimension of guidance and counseling techniques. Finally, there were no differences in the degree of practice of guidance and counseling skills and techniques regarding the specialization variable.