School Counselors’ Lived Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how school counselor perceptions of their roles may have been permanently impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory, which relates to the interactions of an individual and the environment around them, guided the study. The study’s central research was: What are public school counselors’ lived experiences regarding their role perception during the COVID-19 pandemic? Data was collected through virtual semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation with 10 school counselors who were members of the Kentucky School Counselor Association. The data collected from the interviews was analyzed using bracketing to ensure phenomenological reduction. Furthermore, the researcher implemented self-coding, Atlas.ti software, and a secondary coder to triangulate the data and identify the themes that emerged. The findings of the study determined that there were role perception changes for school counselors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.