Abstract:
Counselors, like other members of the caring professions, are required to practice
within an ethical framework, at least in so far as they seek professional
accreditation. Thus, the purpose of the study was to assess factors influencing
adherence to counseling ethics among church based counselors in Uasin Gishu
County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: establish the level of awareness
of counseling ethics among church based counselors and examine the socio-
demographic factors influencing adherence to counseling ethics in Uasin Gishu
County, Kenya. The information provided by this research will benefit
policymakers, community members and academicians. The study adopted
Humanistic Psychology Theory, employed descriptive survey research design and
targeted a population of 164 persons comprising of 158 counselors from 99
Churches and 6 Key Informants drawn from Uasin Gishu County who were all
involved in the study. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews
guides. The instruments were validated by the supervisors. Reliability of the
instruments was determined through a pilot study where Cronbach‘s alpha
coefficients of 0.796 was obtained. This indicated that the instruments were reliable.
Quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and
presented in tables, while qualitative data from interviews was organized into
themes and sub-themes. The study established that there is a significant association
(p=.000) between the levels of awareness of counseling ethics among church based
counselors and adherence to counseling ethics. The study also revealed that more
males at 69.3% had excellent adherence as compared to female, most (77.2%) of the
respondents who had excellent adherence were married, most (90.9%) of the
respondents who had excellent adherence were 60+ years old, all (100.0%)
respondents who had excellent adherence were those who had post graduate
qualification and most (82.1%) of the respondents who had excellent adherence
were from Main line churches. It was concluded that there is an association between
socio-demographic factors such as marital status, age, level of education and
denomination and adherence to counseling ethics. Moreover, there is a significant
association between the levels of awareness of counseling ethics among church
based counselors and adherence to counseling ethics. The Church, policy makers
and the government should come up with a policy that incorporates the socio-
demographic factors such as gender, age, marital status, denomination as they are
found to have association with the adherence to ethics in counseling