The expectations of evangelical Protestant Christians with regard to mental health counseling

Abstract

This quantitative and explanatory study examined the expectations of evangelical Protestant Christians in the area of mental health counseling. The relationship between their expectations of counselors who self-identify as Christian counselors and those who did not self-identify as Christian counselors was compared. The main research question was "What expectations do evangelical Protestant Christians have with regard to mental health counseling?" The study problem that was explored is the separation of many evangelical Protestant Christians from community services, in particular secular and professional social work services. The study relied on the theoretical frameworks of the Social Construction Theory and the Humanist School of Psychology. The Social Construction Theory clarified some of the reasons for the societal separation of evangelical Protestant Christians. The Humanist Theory helped to explain the nature of the inquiry into the expectations of evangelicals in the area of mental health counseling. In addition, a brief explanation of ethics theory was provided in order to further the understanding of value conflicts that may arise between evangelical Protestant Christians and secular counselors. Among some of the areas of statistical significance were understanding, inclusion of religious behaviors and problems or issues that evangelicals expect to bring up in counseling. Acceptance was the only area that lacked statistical significance. Data analysis was completed with Stata 10.