Date

8-2021

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

William Bird

Keywords

Caribbean-Canadian, Christian, Counseling, Attitude

Disciplines

Counseling

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the attitude of church-attending Caribbean-Canadian Christians toward counseling. The two central research questions were, What is the lived experience of Caribbean-Canadian church-attending Christians with counseling? What meaning do Caribbean-Canadian church-attending Christians ascribe to their experience with counseling? The theories guiding this study included expectancy-value and social learning theories. Expectancy-value theory amplifies the belief Caribbean-Canadian Christians have a favorable attitude toward counseling if it aligns with their Christian beliefs. Social learning theory supports the idea that Caribbean-Canadian Christians are shaped by their communal and individual experiencing the world. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews via Microsoft Teams to conform to COVID-19 health restrictions. After the data was collected, it was analyzed using a hermeneutical phenomenological approach, and the results were summarized into themes. The three themes that emerged from this study were Caribbean-Canadian church-attending Christians hold their Christian beliefs as very important and use them to value the worth of an activity. Church-attending Caribbean-Canadian Christians value belonging to a community espousing their Christian beliefs and whose members shared cultural background. Caribbean-Canadian church-attending Christians expressed a positive attitude toward counseling when it conformed to their Christian beliefs and delivered within the context of the meaning of community to them. The research participants also recognized the existence of negative attitudes toward counseling in the wider Caribbean community.

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