The 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic affected nearly all aspects of life for most of the world. Education's adaptation called for a swift, unplanned, and widespread shift to distance education. The rising trend of distance education before the pandemic did not buffer the apprehension and critique of the modality. Though evidence of its inferiority continues to be wholly absent, a better understanding of distance teaching and learning is crucial yet deficient in the counselor education field. This study measured counselor educators' distance education teaching self-efficacy and their beliefs about the competency of distance education students, as well as other influential factors to determine relationships mediating self-efficacy. The results showed a significant relationship between distance education teaching self-efficacy and educators' beliefs about student competency, experiences with distance education, and institutional support. Further, educators' beliefs about students' competency showed the strongest relationship to distance education teaching self-efficacy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]