Expectations and representations about psychotherapeutic profession of Slovenian students of psychotherapy science at Sigmund Freud University

Abstract

Research into psychotherapy training remains an unexplored area in psychotherapy. Qualitative methods and mixed methods research seem to be very useful tools for exploring the training and study process of trainees and students of psychotherapy. In my survey I investigated using a representative sample of Slovenian SFU students of Psychotherapy Science, their ideas and expectations about the profession of psychotherapy and how this changed during the study process. Five consecutive generations of students were investigated using open questionnaires, which included the demographic data of students. With mixed- qualitative and quantitative methodology analysis, I defined qualitative categories of students’ answers, and in relation to them I checked different hypotheses about the impact of age, basic education and personal therapeutic experience against the qualitative categories of their answers. Differences between generations of students were examined and I explored how different generations saw their changes during their study process. I offer some warnings about this research and I discuss the limitations and weaknesses of my research.