사이버상담의 현황과 전망

Abstract

The cyber counseling, which is defined as counseling services via computer mediated communication, is increasing rapidly in Korea, In the future, the new method of counseling will become a major complementary method for the face-to-face counseling. The purpose of this study is to describe the cyber counseling services in Korea in terms of service target population, institutuions, methods of service delivery, and contents of service. One hundred cyber counseling sites were examined. 1) Cyber counseling in Korea Out of the 100 sites examined, twenty-five sites serve for the youth, and nine sites for college students. The sites for women, children, and the people who complain their mental health problems occupy eighteen sites. There are five sites for children and youth, three sites for the disabled people, and two sites for the seniors. The remaining thirty-eight sites do not specify their target clients. Fifty-two out of the one hundred sites are established by private sectors, twenty-one sites by the government, fifteen sites by city or provincial offices, eight sites by universities, two sites by corporations, and three sites by religious institutes. Almost all the counseling sites examined provide one-way directed DB(90%), bulletin board(87%), and e-mail counseling(79%). Comparatively small number of sites provide interactive DB(25%) and chat room services(9%). Many counseling sites deal with a wide spectrum of problems such as sexual, familial, relational, career, emotional, and behavioral problems rather than specifying its service into one or two areas. 2) The prospects of cyber counseling Because of the rapid development of computer industries, we can expect that there will be increased speed, stability, ease, and low-price in the internet system. Information services customized for individuals will also develop. And computer technology will highly developed in the near future. These changes in computer industries will influence cyber counseling. Cyber counseling will utilize the products of computer technology. For example, use of multimedia techniques, customizing services, and other various service methods will penetrate into the counseling field to make even the in-depth psychotherapy possible by the cyber space and network. 3) Tasks of the cyber" counselors The changes in the counseling environment will push the counselors to take new roles in the future society. First, they need to have an open mind to the cyber culture and technology. Second, they should be equipped with the new know-how" of cyber counseling methods. Third, they should be aware of the importance of providing services customized to the clients. Fourth, they must make efforts to facilitate the process of elaborating the softwares for their counseling practice.