A Phenomenological Inquiry on the Difficulties of Male School Counselors in School Settings

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experience of male school counselors‘ difficulties in the field of school counseling. Methods: Eight male school counselors who had level 1 or level 2 school counselor certification with school counseling experiences within 3 years were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using Giorgi’s phenomenological inquiry. Results: A total of five categories and twelve subcategories were found as results. Five categories were 'Discomfort due to prejudice as a male counselor', 'Embarrassment in counseling with female students', 'Bitterness of encountering misconceptions about counselors', 'Confusion over the multiple roles assigned to male counselors', 'Feeling of shame from the reality of school counseling'. Conclusion: Based on these findings, the unique difficulties of male professional counselors were identified and ways to deal with these difficulties were discussed.