Dear Programme Coordinators (Counselling Psychology Masters)

My name is Chanelle Coombs-Brown, and I am a Doctoral candidate registered for the programme Doctor of Philosophy in Social Sciences, Psychology at the University of Fort Hare.

You are invited to participate in a study which seeks to develop guidelines to improve research training and support for postgraduate Counselling Psychology students at South African universities.

The research aims to:
1. Determine the factors that enhance and hinder the dissertation process leading to outcomes of completion or delay.
2. Explore the research experiences and support available to Counselling Psychology
master’s students at South African universities.
3. To explore programme coordinators’ perceptions of student delays in research and the support available to them at each university.

Research participant criteria:
All current Programme Coordinators for the HPCSA accredited masters by coursework, Counselling Psychology degree at a South African university

Study Procedure
If you agree to participate in this study, you will be asked to participate in an online focus group interview, which will last approximately 1hr.

Participation is voluntary, and your answers will be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes.

This study has been granted external ethical review and approval by the UKZN Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee and UFH Inter-Faculty Human Research Ethics Committee (IFREC) - Ethics Clearance ref. number: MAR021SCOO01

Kindly find attached gatekeeper's permission letter, ethical clearance letter, and the information sheet which outlines the details of this study.

For any additional information, please email me on 200504002@ufh.ac.za.

We look forward to hearing from you and your participation will be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Chanelle Coombs-Brown
200504002@ufh.ac.za

Supervisor: Dr Marais (Supervisor) (rmarais@ufh.ac.za
Co-Supervisor: Professor van Niekerk (leonvn@ufh.ac.za)