الملخص الإنجليزي
The study aimed to identify the reality of psychological counselling services provided to parents of intellectual inclusion students in the Sultanate of Oman and the challenges facing psychologists in providing these services. The study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed method using a questionnaire and semi-structured interview as tools for collecting data. The sample of the study consisted of (208) parents of intellectual inclusion students and (11) psychologists.
The study concluded that the level of psychological counselling services provided by psychologists to parents of intellectual inclusion students is low with an average of (1.64). The means for the dimensions of psychological counselling services provided to parents of intellectual inclusion students ranged between (1.62 and 1.65), the highest of which was the social dimension at a low level. Followed by the psychological dimension, then the educational dimension, and finally the family dimension. The results also indicated that in relation to the variable of the psychological counsellors’ gender, there were no statistically significant differences in the level of psychological counselling services as a whole and concerning all dimensions, except for the educational dimension, in which the differences were in favor of females. However, there were statistically significant differences in the level of psychological counselling services provided according to the school type variable in favor of cycle one schools (mixed-gender schools). The results showed the challenges facing the psychologist in providing counselling services, including the family’s lack of awareness of the roles of the psychologist, the reluctance of parents to visit the school or communicate with the psychologist, the long distance of the family’s residence from the school affects the family’s communication with the psychologist, the scarcity of the training courses in the field of special education, which would develop the knowledge of psychologists in dealing with the families of intellectual inclusion students, and the lack of suitability of the psychologist’s room to practice counselling work in an appropriate manner. In addition, the lack of awareness of the school community about the privacy of the work of the psychologist, the increased number of students in schools, and the large number of duties may make psychologists neglect to provide counselling services to families. In light of the result of the study, the researcher came up with a set of recommendations. The most important is planning training courses for psychologists about intellectual disability and preparing mechanisms for developing the skills of people with intellectual disability and their families as well.
Keywords: Psychological Counselling; Intellectual Inclusion; Intellectual Disability; Psychologist; Challenges; Sultanate of Oman.
