Psychological safety is a concept mentioned throughout the literature as a necessary component in the process of change in group counseling. Despite its frequent mention, no study has examined the characteristics of psychological safety. The purpose of this study was to lay the groundwork for a definition of the concept of psychological safety using self reports of group leaders and group members on a constructed Likert format psychological safety questionnaire of three attributional categories: self, other members, and leader. The study utilized group members (n = 44) and group leaders (n = 4) participating in laboratory groups as a part of a counseling related masters curriculum. The questionnaires were filled out on the first, eighth (middle), and fourteenth (last) sessions. Hierarchies for characteristics and attribution were constructed by using a summing procedure of the Likert responses. Results on the attribution of psychological safety by group members showed a consistent pattern over the three time measures. Group members reported leaders as the most attributed to facilitating psychological safety, other members as second, and self as least attributed to facilitate psychological safety. Group leaders showed no apparent agreement between groups, but each group leader attributed psychological safety consistently over time within one's own group. Results on the characteristics of psychological safety yielded a comprehensive list of characteristics, arranged in hierarchical format, as reported by both group members and leaders. Results indicated that psychological safety has some core concepts in each of the attributional categories. For group members, the characteristics of "warmth and support" and "active listening" were stable across every attributional category and time measure. For group leaders, "self disclosing feelings", "warmth and support", and "responding in an emotional, feeling manner" were reported in every time measure and attributional category. Characteristics that had a negative effect on psychological safety and recommendations for future research were also discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc278011 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Fall, Kevin A. |
| Contributors | Berg, Robert C., 1938-, Lane, Timothy M., Holden, Janice Miner |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | v, 110 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved., Fall, Kevin A. |
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