A survey of occupational stress, psychological strain, and coping resources in licensed professional counselors in Virginia

The Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) and an Individual Data Form (IDF) provided information about the levels of occupational stress, psychological strain, and coping resources for a random selection of 414 professional counselors licensed by the state of Virginia (LPC). The return rate was 77.3% (n=320), and the number of responses used for analysis was 258.

The IDF provided a general description of the LPCs. Most of the respondents were white (n=248) and married (76%) and averaged 47.23 years old. There were 154 females and 104 males. The majority (72.5%) were parents and the mode for number of children was two (32.94%). The LPCs averaged 15 years experience and had been licensed an average of 8.86 years. The most often reported practice setting was private practice, either individual (20.5%) or with group affiliation (17.4%). The majority (91.7%) of the LPCs worked with clients and averaged doing so 4.2 days per week. The average number of daily client sessions was 4.78. The maximum number of client sessions per day averaged 7.45. Most of the clients (60.59%) were self-referred for counseling.

Overall T-scores on the OSI were in the average range for stress, strain, and coping. Demographic variables found to be significant for levels of occupational stress included gender, primary work setting, weekly work hours, number of days per week clients were seen, average and maximum daily client sessions, and whether the clients were self- referred or legally mandated to attend counseling. Levels of psychological strain were significantly different depending on the LPCs' age, gender, marital status, primary work setting, and whether stress-related treatment had been sought. Primary work setting, number of days each week clients were seen, and whether the LPCs had sought stress-related treatment significantly influenced coping resources. Various subscales of the OSI were found to be significant for each of the domains of stress, strain, and coping depending upon the level of the demographic variables.

The only variables found to have significance for levels of stress, strain, and coping was practice setting. Implications for the profession and recommendations for future research are made.