Counseling Self-efficacy And Counselor-in-training Anxiety: The Moderating Role Of Mindfulness

Abstract

Mindfulness has been suggested as a predictor in counselor self-efficacy and has been shown to have a negative correlation with anxiety.� However, the relationship between anxiety and counselor self-efficacy with the possibility of mindfulness playing a moderation role has not been examined.� This study examined the relationship between counseling self-efficacy and counselor-in-training anxiety and the potential moderating effect of mindfulness.� Master’s level counselors-in-training were surveyed using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Trimodal Anxiety Questionnaire (TAQ), and the Counselor Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) (N = 156). Levels of anxiety, counselor self-efficacy, and mindfulness were obtained and a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients revealed significant pairwise relationships between the three variables.� A moderated path analysis supported the hypothesis that mindfulness is a significant predictor of anxiety and self-efficacy.� However, results indicated that mindfulness was not a moderator of the relationship between anxiety and counselor self-efficacy. Implications for the use of mindfulness as part of counseling program curriculum are discussed.