Investigating the Career Challenges of Psychotherapists in Telephone Counseling

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Counseling and Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This study aimed to identify therapists’ experiences of career challenges in telephone counseling. The present research method is applied and qualitative, phenomenological. The population of this study included active therapists in Tehran in 2024-2025. Sampling was purposeful and continued until saturation and finally 15 therapists were selected. Participants were interviewed semi-structured. The Colaizzi thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data. Data analysis led to the identification of 68 primary concepts, 14 sub-themes, and 5 main themes. The main theme included five themes: communication challenges (lack of access to nonverbal cues, ambiguity in verbal expression, environmental factors, and difficulty in trust), technical challenges (difficulty in connecting and accessing technology), psychological challenges (emotional and behavioral), developmental challenges (lack of culture building, few infrastructure measures, lack of attention to human resources), and organizational-structural challenges (poor human resources management, weak policies, and difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of telephone counseling). The findings of the present study can be an important explanation for understanding the challenges of this job and the paths that need to be reviewed or even redefined in this area.

Keywords

Journal of Applied Psychological Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 11 June 2025

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 April 2025
  • Revise Date: 06 May 2025
  • Accept Date: 04 June 2025
  • First Publish Date: 11 June 2025
  • Publish Date: 11 June 2025

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