Counselling skills could help clergy cope

Training in counselling skills could help members of the clergy better cope with the emotional demands of their work. This is the finding of a study presented today, 15th January 2010 at the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference in Brighton.

Professor Gail Kinman, together with Obrene McFall and Joanna Rodriguez from the University of Bedfordshire examined the levels of ‘emotional labour’, psychological health and job satisfaction of 188 members of the clergy in the UK. Of this sample, 96 per cent were male and the average age was 56.

Professor Kinman said: "Members of the clergy may experience considerable strain because of the emotional nature of their job - their day-to-day role requires them to deal with many emotionally taxing situations, as well as to observe human suffering and support distressed parishioners. We wanted to gain insight into the psychological demands of this job and their impact on members of the clergy."

The 188 participants each answered questions that measured their levels of emotional labour (the effort involved in dealing with other peoples’ feelings, a core component of which is the regulation of emotions). Levels of job satisfaction, psychological distress and levels of social support were also assessed, as was whether or not participants had been trained in interpersonal/counselling skills.

Members of the clergy who performed more emotional labour tended to be more psychologically distressed and less satisfied with their work. Surprisingly, social support from friends, family and colleagues failed to protect participants from the negative impact of emotional labour. Evidence was found, however, that training in counselling skills may help the clergy to cope with the emotional demands they face.

Professor Kinman said: "Although we found that the members of the clergy who participated in this study had high levels of job satisfaction and psychological wellbeing relative to other professions, our results suggest that training in counselling skills could help individuals better cope with the emotional demands of their work. The findings also suggest that the clergy would benefit from more social support to help them manage this aspect of their job."

The British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference is taking place at the Brighton Holiday Inn from 13 - 15 January 2010, visit www.bps.org.uk/dop2010 for more information.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION prior to the conference please CONTACT: The Media Centre on 0116 2529904 or email mediacentre@bps.org.uk