Personal qualities or skills? Areport of a study of nursing studentsʹ views of the characteristics of counsellors

The personal qualities associated with effective counselling have been discussed in the research andcounselling literature. Counselling skills have been proposed as tools to be learned by student nurses. In this study of 162 students of nursing, respondents were asked to identify what they felt to be the important personal qualities of a counsellor. They were asked not to identify their own skills or qualifications. ndings were broadly in line with those of other studies in that students felt that qualities such as being non-judgemental, empathic and understanding were important. A notable finding was that 73% of respondents identified ‘being a good listener’ as a personal quality in contrast to the literature which usually describes listening as a skill. aper describes the study, reports the findings, and offers a discussion of the question of the implications of identifying listening as a personal quality as well as - or instead of - a skill. The study has implications for the way in which counselling skills may be taught and how nurse educators might consider the qualities associated with counselling.