Counselling Journal of College Student Psychotherapy

Question: Discuss about theCounsellingfor Journal of College Student Psychotherapy. Answer: Introduction This write-up strives to provide a reflective summary of premarital counselling survey gathered from 54 participants that include both male and female. It would further analyse the data and support the analysis with ideas obtained from already available and relevant literature. There are 15 questions that include demographic and non-demographic data sets. The 1st question enables the researcher to understand the numbers of male and female participants, who have come for a premarital counselling. This would inform whether female or male population seeks more support prior their marriage. This indicates either male or female needs more support during their transition of life or seeks more satisfaction from marital life. The survey demonstrates majority of the male opted for premarital counselling in Singapore. Martino, (2008) in this regard have mentioned that premarital counselling could be opted by any one, irrespective of the gender and geographical location that is not necessarily indicates any particular gender in terms of premarital counselling. The next question was asked to understand the participants age. The survey included participants ranging from 21 to 65years. The majority of the participants has fallen under the age group of 31-40years. This indicates that individuals fallen within this age group are less likely to divorce, try to understand and avoid the causes of conflicts in a later phase of life. Fark?ndal, (2010) opined that premarital counselling help to identify certain issues, which are irreconcilable that would further support the individuals decide not to marry. The 3rd question demonstrates that the majority of the married individuals has come for premarital counselling, which reflects a feeling of dissatisfaction from a previous marriage. However, it could not be presumed if these individuals have undergone a premarital counselling session earlier that has emerged to be unsuccessful. The majority of the participants has agreed to the fact that they are aware of premarital counselling that further support trust and awareness of the advantages of premarital counselling. This data could further be supported by Fawcett et al. (2010), who stated that people in Singapore are aware of the programs and courses (relationship and prevention enhancement program, marriage program for citizen-foreigner couples) offered by the Ministry of Family and Social Development ("Preparing for Marriage", 2016). A qualitative question on the significance of premarital counselling shows individual participants have their own perceptions and beliefs regarding counselling. Participants believe that counselling evaluates the relationship, prepares mentally, reveals the expectations of marriage, manage expectations, develops better understanding between the two, and involves spiritual aspects and so on. Fark?ndal (2010) opined that counselling is a process to enrich and enhance premarital associations that lead to more stable and satisfactory marriages and prevent divorce. It is evident that the majority of the respondents has not opted for premarital counselling before. From this it could be mentioned that for better marital life, majority of them have opted for counselling. Majority of the respondents do not know anyone already undergo counselling and have a successful marriage. However, just 1% of the participants mentioned that they know people who receive no fruitful marriage counselling. 35% agreed with positive result of counselling prior marriage. Yilmaz Kalkan, (2010) in their study demonstrated that 87% individuals agreed to the positive results of counselling. On the other hand, some believe that results of counselling emerge to be effective after the first few years of marriage. This is because after few years it becomes easy for the individuals to forget about each other needs that further gives rise to various conflicts. Almost 72% of the participants believe that counselling leads to marital satisfaction. Mirecki et al., (2013) have explored that higher level of satisfaction from marriage is achieved after second marriage and the factors associated with this are increased experience and education. So, the study provides a strong support that premarital counselling leads to marital satisfaction. Majority of the respondents has denied the fact that finding premarital counselling services in Singapore is difficult. This further shows that individuals seek for premarital counselling and adequate supports are available in Singapore. While analysing the factors that are highly associated with marital conflicts, it is seen that people have voted communication the higher among the three parameters (communication, money and sex). Lack of communication between individuals and their spouse may aggravate a simple situation. Mahaffey (2010) in this regard has stated that couples should keep a quality time to spend together and communicate more with each other to avoid the chance of miscommunication. Another qualitative question asked to the participants that enabled the researcher to understand their perception behind considering communication as a major issue. Majority of them believe that due to time mismanagement couples fall short to adequately communicate with each other that starts accumulating concerns between the two and basic needs are ignored. Majority of the responded denied the fact that premarital counselling should be done as a consequence of religion. Kellems et al., (2010) in this regard have mentioned that religion has no direct linkage. However, if two individuals are from different religion then there might be a need to help them to recognize common problems in order to solve them. Majority of the respondents believe that six months before marriage is the best time to go for premarital counseling. This could be because couples receive more time to work on their crisis or try to seek help from counselor considering particular issues (Yilmaz Kalkan, 2010). They could also decide on whether they want to be or not to be in the relationship in future. Participants believe that more than 4-6sessions are necessary for premarital counseling. This is probably due to the notion that more sessions would provide the couples with chances to solve encountered issues by visiting the counsellor (Mahaffey, 2010). Participants agreed to the fact that they would recommend premarital counseling to their friends and families, who are planning to get married due to positive consequences of counseling sessions, which include increase in effective communication, spending more time together, take active part in solving issues mutually that would reduce the chance of divorce, enhance and enrich marital life. References Fark?ndal, E. . G. D. (2010). Awareness of Premarital Genetic Counselling among Youth Corpers in South-West Nigeria.TAF Preventive Medicine Bulletin,9(6), 575-578. Fawcett, E. B., Hawkins, A. J., Blanchard, V. L., Carroll, J. S. (2010). Do Premarital Education Programs Really Work? A Meta?analytic Study.Family Relations,59(3), 232-239. Kellems, I. S., Hill, C. E., Crook-Lyon, R. E., Freitas, G. (2010). Working with clients who have religious/spiritual issues: A survey of university counseling center therapists.Journal of College Student Psychotherapy,24(2), 139-155. Mahaffey, B. A. (2010). Couples counseling directive technique: A (mis) communication model to promote insight, catharsis, disclosure, and problem resolution.The Family Journal,18(1), 45-49. Martino, S. (2008). "Relating" to each other: Couples' engagement in premarital counseling.Psyccritiques,53(43). https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0012017 Mirecki, R. M., Chou, J. L., Elliott, M., Schneider, C. M. (2013). What factors influence marital satisfaction? Differences between first and second marriages.Journal of Divorce Remarriage,54(1), 78-93. Preparing for Marriage. (2016).MSF Corp Web. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://app.msf.gov.sg/Policies/Marriages/Preparing-for-Marriage Yilmaz, T., Kalkan, M. (2010). The Effects of a Premarital Relationship Enrichment Program on Relationship Satisfaction.Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice,10(3), 1911-1920.