Psychometric Properties of the Sources of Counseling Self Efficacy in a Sample of Malaysian Secondary School Counselors

• Main Authors: Ooi Pei-Boon, Wan Marzuki Wan Jaafar, Ang Chin-Siang, Chan Nee-Nee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-01-01
• Series: SAGE Open
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020902076

Self-efficacy has been considered an essential mediator and predictor of individual counseling performance. As there is no existing scale to measure counseling self-efficacy in the counseling domain, the Sources of Middle School Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale was modified in this study. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Sources of Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale, Malaysia (SCSE-M) in a sample of 541 Malaysian secondary school counselors. In addition, it aims to also examine the invariance between registered and non-registered counselors. The results reveal that the SCSE-M four-factor model (social persuasion, mastery experience, vicarious learning, and physiological and affective state) has good fit and is appropriate in the domain-specific counseling profession. In terms of validity and reliability, SCSE-M reported good internal consistency and support for configural, metric, and scalar invariance among registered and non-registered counselors. The generalizability of the results should be considered as tentative and limited to public secondary schools’ counselors who were the sample in this study. More research is needed in the other private, international, primary, and tertiary counseling sectors to determine the appropriateness of the SCSE-M for use in the counseling domain in Malaysia.