Silence in Metaverse Counseling

초록

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the role of silence in metaverse counseling. We analyzed data from 159 counseling sessions conducted in a metaverse setting, which included 26 clients from a Korean community sample. The findings revealed that the most common type of silence was productive silence, with obstructive silence being the least frequent. Additionally, there was a high occurrence of productive silence and a low occurrence of obstructive silence in metaverse counseling. Furthermore, obstructive silence, particularly disengaged silence, had a significant impact on the counselor–client relationship (working alliance) and the outcomes of the counseling sessions (session satisfaction). By contrast, productive silence did not have a significant impact on these factors. The practical and theoretical implications of this study are discussed. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.

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