- Title
- Exploring the perceptions and attitudes of University of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological counselling services
- Creator
- Pantshwa, Siziphiwe
- Subject
- Counseling
- Subject
- Helping behavior
- Subject
- Psychology, Applied
- Date
- 2022-09
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23809
- Identifier
- vital:60807
- Description
- The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the perceptions and attitudes of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological help. It provided an understanding of factors that influence the help-seeking behaviours of university students. The study used an explorative qualitative approach in collecting data to find problems frequently encountered by students, their preferred sources of help for those problems, and their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. The sample was selected through a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Six participants, undergraduate and post-graduate students from the University of Fort Hare, East London campus, participated in the study. The data was collected in face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews in which participants were questioned orally. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed by employing Braun and Clarke’s six steps of thematic analysis. Social constructionism as a meta-theory and Ecosystems theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the interpretation of the study. The study results revealed that close friends and family members were the preferred sources of help chosen by students. Five significant problems were experienced by students. Financial issues, difficulty adjusting to the university environment, academic stress, being away from home and managing time were at the top list of the challenges experienced by students. The factors that inhibited -seeking for psychological help were social stigma, access to a psychologist, financial constraints, and viewing a psychologist as a stranger. However the study further found that students had a positive attitude toward professional psychological help. This indicates a slight shift from previous studies, which reported negative attitudes among university students. Participants also reported on the influence of their socio-cultural background, the opinions held by their family and community members towards seeking psychological help. This study recommends specific interventions in which seeking psychological help can be reinforced, such as holding workshops to psycho-educate students about the benefits of using counselling services and the negative implications of not seeking professional help when experiencing psychological distress.
- Description
- Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (162 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Psychology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Pantshwa1 Dissertation.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |