The professional and social roles of clinical psychologists in Turkey

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Psikoloji Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2007

Öğrenci: GAYE ZEYNEP ÇENESİZ

Danışman: FARUK GENÇÖZ

Özet:

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the professional and social roles of clinical psychologists are described in Turkey, how clinical psychologists evaluate these roles, and which factors are affecting the role definitions. It was hypothesized that there would be differences between the role definitions of the public, the role definitions of the other professions working with psychologists and the role definitions of psychologists themselves. Also, it was expected that the public would not differentiate the professions ‘psychologist’, ‘clinical psychologist’, and ‘psychiatrist’. Participants were 27 professions working with psychologists, 27 psychologists, and 105 citizens from Ankara, İstanbul, Muğla, and Aydın. The data were gathered by administering 3 versions of Perceptions about Psychologists Questionnaires developed by the writer. Content Analyses were done to examine the data. The results indicated that although public had a general idea about the role definitions of clinical psychologists, it was also unable to differentiate the three relate professions. The results also summarized how clinical psychologists were understood in Turkey, and showed the factors related to the comprehension process. The findings, and their implications with suggestions for future research and practice, were discussed in the light of relevant literature.