Abstract:

The study investigated the role of students’ problems, locus of control, personality and social support as predictors of counseling seeking behavior of adolescents in senior high schools in Volta region, Ghana. A correlational survey was the research designed for the study. Stratified proportional and simple random samplings were used to select 300 students for the study but 218 questionnaires were retrieved for the study. The instruments used for data collection were the Big Five Inventory (BFI), Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale, self-stigma of help-seeking scale, Multi-dimensional scale of Perceived Social Support Assessment, General Help-seeking Questionnaire and Students’ Problems Inventory. Four hypotheses were tested. The findings and conclusions indicate that there is significant correlation between students’ problems and counseling-seeking behavior, locus of control positively and significantly predicts all other study variables except self-stigma of seeking help which it predicts negatively, a significant correlation exists between social support and students’ problems and help-seeking behavior, adolescents with conscientious personality with external locus of control will show a higher counseling seeking behavior than adolescents with neurotic personality and internal locus of control, adolescents with openness personality traits and internal locus of control will show high counseling seeking behavior than adolescents with agreeable and external locus of control. There is a significant positive correlation between social support and counseling seeking behavior.

Keywords: Adolescents, Personality, Locus of control, Social support, Help-seeking behavior.

References:

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[8]. Hassan, T. (2011). Problems confronting counseling practices in Nigeria. In S.A. Gesinde (Ed), Readings in counseling practicum (pp. 252-260). Ibadan: Vantage Publishers.

[9].   Mackenzie, C., Knox, V. J., Gekoski, W., & Macaulay, H. (2004). An adaptation and extension of the attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help scale. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 2410-2435.

[10].  Rockwood, D. J., Dean, F.P., Wilson, C.J., & Ciarrochi, J. (2005) Young people’s help-seeking for mental health problems. Australian E-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health. 4 (3), Supplement.

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Abstract:

On a global scale, there has been a significant increase in mental health issues. Over the past years, Guyana has seen a 1.9% increase in suicide between the years 2010-2015. One approach to fighting this pandemic is through the field of counselling psychology. This field of study provides advice, guidance, coping methods, et cetera, on how to deal with difficult circumstances or just everyday life situations. The objective of this research was to find out the public perception of counselling psychology, which in turn gives us an idea of the issues the country is facing in relation to this field of study. Subsequently, aiding the country in fighting suicide and other mental health issues. A survey was conducted in Region 6, Guyana. A questionnaire was designed and used for the survey and was administered to 383 persons. The SPSS software was used for data analysis. Based on the survey done, there were 216 female and 167 male respondents. 78.1% of the respondents said they think counselling is important while 1.3% said it was not important and 20.4% did not know or have never heard of the term counselling/counselling psychology. 58.7% of the respondents found no stigma/shame in counselling while 17.8% said there is stigma/shame in counselling. Also, 41.5% stated that there are no counselling centers in Guyana while 36.6% said that there are. By analysing the data, the realization obtained from this research was that the public believes that counselling is important, however, persons are not aware of this field of study and the counselling facilities and services available in the country.

Keywords: Guyana, counselling, counselling psychology, suicide.

References:

[1]. Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy (8th ed.). United States of America: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

[2]. Francis, P. C., & Dugger, S. M. (2014). Professionalism, Ethics, and Value-Based Conflicts in Counselling. Journal of Counselling & Development, 131-134.

[3]. Gladding, S. T. (1996). COUNSELLING: A Comprehensive Profession (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

[4]. Hill, A. L. (2004). Ethical Analysis in Counselling: A Case for Narrative Ethics, Moral, Visions, and Virtue Ethics. Asian-Pacific Psychiatry, 131-148.

[5]. Kolter, J. A., & Shepard, D. S. (2008). Introduction to Counselling: voices from the field (6th ed.). United States: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

[6]. McLead, J. (2003). AN INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING (3rd ed.). Uk & USA: Open University Press.

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[9]. WHO. (2017). Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.MHSUICIDEASDR?lang=en.