Developing a competency scale for selecting and assessing psychological peer counselors in ethnic-area colleges: a pilot study in Guizhou Province, China

Junru Guo; Wei Chen; Meilan Liu; Lirong Jiang; Yurong Chen; Xiaoqing Zhao; Dan Peng; Xuefeng Jiang; Li Wang; Dongmei Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1402403

Developing a competency scale for selecting and assessing psychological peer counselors in ethnic-area colleges: a pilot study in Guizhou Province, China

Front Psychol. 2024 Dec 11:15:1402403. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1402403. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Junru Guo^#^{1

2}, Wei Chen^#^{2

3}, Meilan Liu⁴, Lirong Jiang¹, Yurong Chen¹, Xiaoqing Zhao⁵, Dan Peng⁶, Xuefeng Jiang⁷, Li Wang³, Dongmei Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China.
² School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ Maochang Middle School, Bijie, China.
⁵ Student Affairs Office, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China.
⁶ Student Affairs Office, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, China.
⁷ Student Affairs Office, Dalian Minzu University, Dalian, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Psychological peer counselors play a crucial role in the mental health education of college students, especially in ethnic regions. The study zeroes in on developing a tool for selecting and assessing psychological peer counselors in ethnic-area colleges and universities, using Guizhou Province as a case study.

Materials and methods: Focusing on psychological peer counselors in ethnic-area higher education institutions, this study amalgamates open-ended questionnaire surveys, interviews, and literature analysis to construct a competency characteristics questionnaire. The questionnaire underwent pretesting with 450 psychological peer counselors in colleges and universities, involving entry analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Subsequently, it was administered formally to 570 psychological peer counselors for confirmatory factor analysis, coupled with internal consistency reliability tests at the empirical validity level. A subset of 230 psychological peer counselors was retested after three-month intervals. The Interpersonal Reaction Coefficient Scale (IRC-C) and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) were employed for validity tests.

Results: The questionnaire consists of 21 items across four factors-role identity, communication sensitivity, personal traits, and professional ethic-cumulatively explaining 66.26% of the variance. The validated factor analyses demonstrated a good model fit (X²/df = 2.67, SRMR = 0.04, TLI/NNFI = 0.93, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.05, AIC = 21960.17, BIC = 22261.10). The questionnaire's total and factor scores correlated positively with the total scores of the IRC-C/GSES (r = 0.18-0.64; all p < 0.01). The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the total questionnaire and individual factors ranged from 0.73 to 0.95, retest reliability from 0.64 to 0.92, and split-half reliabilities from 0.71 to 0.94.

Conclusion: The Competency Scale for Psychological Peer Counselors in Colleges of Ethnic Areas demonstrates robust reliability and validity, making it a reliable tool for future screening of psychological peer counselors in ethnic-area colleges and universities.

Keywords: Chinese experience; college student; competency characteristics; ethnic-area; psychological peer counselors.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was funded by the 2023 Annual Research Base Project for Humanities and Social Sciences in Guizhou Province Universities (Project No. 23RWJD106), the Collaborative projects between Guizhou Minzu University and Institute of Psychology, CAS (No. GJ202006), and the 2020 Project for Education Sciences Planning in Guizhou Province (Project No. 2020B159). The source played no additional part in the study’s conception, data collecting and analysis, report writing, or decision to submit the work for publication.