Counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) require their students to participate in a group experience as a member for 10 clock hours over the course of an academic term (CACREP, 2009). In addition, the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) recommends that students participate in a group experience as a member or a leader for at least 10 hours and states that 20 hours of participation is preferable (ASGW, 2000). Counselor education programs satisfy the requirement in a variety of ways (Anderson & Price, 2001; Armstrong, 2002; Merta et al., 1993); however, the two most common types of groups are unstructured (e.g., personal growth) (48%), and structured (e.g., psychoeducational) (38%), both requiring some level of self-disclosure by students (Armstrong, 2002). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two group approaches on counseling students' empathy development, group leader self-efficacy development, and their experience of the therapeutic factors. More specifically, this study compared personal growth groups and psychoeducational groups on the constructs of: (a) cognitive and affective empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index ; Davis, 1980), (b) group leader self-efficacy (Group Leader Self-Efficacy Instrument ; Page, Pietrzak, & Lewis, 2001), and cohesion, catharsis, and insight (Curative Climate Instrument ; Fuhriman, Drescher, Hanson, & Henrie, 1986). In addition, the study explored pre to post intervention change for each group on the constructs of cognitive and affective empathy and group leader self-efficacy. The statistical analyses in this study included (a) MANCOVA, (b) disrciminant analysis, and (c) repeated-measures ANOVAs. The participants in personal growth groups valued catharsis and insight at greater levels than participants in the psychoeducational groups. Additionally, there was not a difference between the groups at posttest on cognitive empathy, affective empathy, or group leader self-efficacy. Further, neither group experienced a change in cognitive or affective empathy from pre to post. However, both groups did experience an increase in group leader self-efficacy from pre to post.

A presente dissertação fundamenta-se na psicologia analítica, criada pelo psiquiatra e psicanalista suíço Carl Gustav Jung. Partindo deste referencial e tomando como base os pilares da pesquisa qualitativa foi realizado um grupo vivencial de sonhos com estudantes ingressantes no 1º ano de graduação em Psicologia de uma universidade pública, com o objetivo de compreender como os estudantes estão vivenciando esse momento específico. Por meio do estudo do movimento grupal nos encontros, de uma análise do material obtido e da elaboração simbólica a respeito do desenvolvimento do grupo e dos encontros foi possível identificar e observar símbolos que apontam para um período de mudanças e enfrentamento de angústias e medos, encontrando sustentação e significação no grupo. O grupo vivencial com a utilização de recursos expressivos artísticos revelou-se também como meio de autoconhecimento, possibilitando o exercício da alteridade e seu manejo, indicando seu uso durante a formação do psicólogo em diversos momentos / The present dissertation is based on analytical psychology, created by the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Starting from this framework and based on the pillars of qualitative research, an experiential dream group was realized with incoming students in the first year of graduation in Psychology from a public university, in order to understand how the students are experiencing this moment. Through the study of the group movement in the meetings, an analysis of the material obtained and the symbolic elaboration of the same and of the encounters, it was possible to identify and observe symbols that refer to a process of change and confrontation of fears that found support in the group. The experiential group with expressives artistcs resources revealed itself also as a tool for self-knowledge, allowing the exercise of alterity and its management, its use being indicated for the training of psychologists, in several moments

A presente dissertação fundamenta-se na psicologia analítica, criada pelo psiquiatra e psicanalista suíço Carl Gustav Jung. Partindo deste referencial e tomando como base os pilares da pesquisa qualitativa foi realizado um grupo vivencial de sonhos com estudantes ingressantes no 1º ano de graduação em Psicologia de uma universidade pública, com o objetivo de compreender como os estudantes estão vivenciando esse momento específico. Por meio do estudo do movimento grupal nos encontros, de uma análise do material obtido e da elaboração simbólica a respeito do desenvolvimento do grupo e dos encontros foi possível identificar e observar símbolos que apontam para um período de mudanças e enfrentamento de angústias e medos, encontrando sustentação e significação no grupo. O grupo vivencial com a utilização de recursos expressivos artísticos revelou-se também como meio de autoconhecimento, possibilitando o exercício da alteridade e seu manejo, indicando seu uso durante a formação do psicólogo em diversos momentos / The present dissertation is based on analytical psychology, created by the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Starting from this framework and based on the pillars of qualitative research, an experiential dream group was realized with incoming students in the first year of graduation in Psychology from a public university, in order to understand how the students are experiencing this moment. Through the study of the group movement in the meetings, an analysis of the material obtained and the symbolic elaboration of the same and of the encounters, it was possible to identify and observe symbols that refer to a process of change and confrontation of fears that found support in the group. The experiential group with expressives artistcs resources revealed itself also as a tool for self-knowledge, allowing the exercise of alterity and its management, its use being indicated for the training of psychologists, in several moments