الملخص الإنجليزي
This study aims at building a group counseling program to develop the religious cadre's communication skills in the Sultanate of Oman. The proposed program is based on a survey targeting communication skills needed by preachers in the Sultanate of Oman. It is also based on relevant literature and studies in the field. The group counseling program consists of (14) counseling sessions, one or two sessions per week and ranging from 60
to 90 minutes.
The first session aims at breaking the ice and building confidence between the counselor and the group members at one hand and among the members themselves on the other hand. Moreover, group members are introduced to the concept group counseling and to the program.
In the second session, sampled members are introduced to the concept of communication, its types and its importance to people whereas the sessions from (3) to (13) focus on developing communication skills. In the 14th session, the counselor concludes the group counseling program.
The research proposes a number of counseling methods aiming at fulfilling the objective of the program such as discussion, feedback, motivation, homework, summarizing, models, simple lectures, role playing and raising question. These methods as suggested in the study can be complemented by using teaching aids like boards, pens, projectors, computers and screens to reinforce these methods.
The researcher concludes by encouraging the Ministry of Endowments and the Religious Affairs, Counselors and social work specialists to take into consideration the group counseling program to further probe into the issue of communication skills development of religious cadres in the Sultanate of Oman.
