An Exploratory Study of the Potential of Online Counseling for University Students by a Human-Operated Avatar Counselor
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kiuchi K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC11241672 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:University counseling services (UCSs) are actively involved in mental health assessment and in supplying interventions aimed at preventing, facing and possibly overcoming psychological problems. However, we do not have a global overview of psychological counseling among universities. This systematic review aims at reviewing the literature on university psychological counseling, including articles documenting: (1) mental health and attitudes regarding help-seeking behaviors and UCSs among university students or counselors, (2) the description of protocols/services among UCSs, (3) the efficacy of psychological counseling/interventions among university students (both face-to-face and internet-delivered interventions). The study followed PRISMA guidelines and was registered on PROSPERO. After defining inclusion and exclusion criteria, a literature search was conducted, identifying 7085 records. Finally, 152 articles met the review eligibility criteria and were included in the qualitative synthesis. Results are divided into seven thematic topics that emerged during the analysis of the literature. The results mainly showed that face-to-face and web-based counseling/psychological interventions improve university students' mental health. Cross-sectional studies showed that many biases exist toward help-seeking behaviors, especially among international students. Both students and counselors must strive to overcome cultural barriers. Available resources for UCSs are scarce and need to be strengthened, as well as efficacy studies through randomized clinical trials.
| S-EPMC10528000 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Human microbiota have a significant impact on the health of individuals, and reciprocally, lifestyle choices of individuals have an important effect on the diversity and composition of microbiota. Studies assessing microbiota knowledge among the public are lacking, although it is hypothesized that this knowledge can motivate healthier behavior. Hence, this study aimed to measure microbiota knowledge among university students, and the effect of this knowledge on behavioral beliefs. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among students from various fields of study enrolled at the University of Jordan, using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 3 parts: demographics, general knowledge of microbiota, and behavioral beliefs related to microbiota. Four hundred and two responses were collected from verified university students. Participants were divided into two groups depending on whether they took a formal microbiology course (45 h) or not. Results from those two groups were compared using appropriate statistical methods. Results showed that most participants, even those who did not take a formal microbiology course, displayed good knowledge of what microbiota is and how they can be influenced by personal and environmental factors. Participants who took a microbiology course had significantly higher microbiota knowledge scores and were more aware of the effect of antibiotics on microbiota. Participants' behavioral beliefs regarding their antibiotic use, but not their diet and lifestyle choices, were affected by their knowledge of microbiota. The study indicates that disseminating knowledge regarding microbiota and microbiology in general, can improve behaviors related to antibiotic use.
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Project description:One-thousand-one-hundred-and-ninety-one school counselors completed an online survey regarding advocacy for and with gender minority students comprising transgender and intersex students (school counselor gender minority advocacy competence). School counselors completed a battery of three competency-based assessments to assess their levels of gender identity counselor competence, intersex counselor competence, and school counselor gender minority advocacy competence. They also completed a demographic form so that competency levels could be examined with demographic variables. Attitudes, school level placement, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity counselor competence, and intersex counselor competence were significantly related to advocacy for and with gender minority students. These findings have implications for the application of identity behavior theory to examine the experiences and behaviors of minoritized individuals and those who advocate for them. These advocates include school counselors and other helping professionals who work with gender minority students.
| S-EPMC7968657 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study explored the potential of Second Life (SL), a popular multi-user virtual online environment, for university counseling. University students (n = 312) were asked to evaluate three counseling channels (i.e., traditional face-to-face, internet, and SL) based on a range of media features deemed relevant and important to counseling and to assess their relative preferability when faced with different counseling problems. For the purposes of this study, counseling rooms with different styles were built, virtual counselors with different genders, ages, and styles were created, and short video recordings of scripted counseling sessions were produced in SL. For the media feature comparisons, the collected data were analyzed by the multivariate analysis of variance, followed by the analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons when significant differences were found, whereas for counseling problem comparisons, repeated-measure analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons were used. The results for the media feature comparisons showed that SL counseling significantly out-rated traditional counseling in all of the examined media features, with the exception of the interactivity dimension. Additionally, while SL and internet counseling were both perceived as significantly better than traditional counseling in areas that are unique to computer-mediated communications, including anonymity, convenience, and flexibility with regard to time and space, as well as privacy of the counseling site, SL was perceived as distinctly superior to internet counseling in five areas due to its unique affordances, including the choice of appearance, choice of counselors, interactivity, diversity of counseling sites, and availability of counseling object dimensions. Furthermore, traditional counseling was regarded as better able to support more fluent and versatile interaction between the counselor and client than the other two computer-mediated channels. As for the results of counseling problem comparisons, SL was rated as least preferred for six out of the seven counseling problems (except for gender identity issues), despite its media affordances. Suggestions for practitioners and future research are provided based on the current findings.
| S-EPMC6294205 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere are a plethora of studies on expressive writing and positive writing interventions, but few have addressed the combination of both paradigms. Additionally, research on the role of ambivalence toward change in the context of writing-based interventions is lacking. Ambivalence toward change is a natural movement of approaching and avoiding change that may occur in various situations. In psychotherapy, its resolution is associated with successful outcomes.AimThis study tested the efficacy of a combination of expressive and positive writing paradigms in an internet-based intervention to improve university students' mental health. Additionally, focusing participants on a current, unresolved problem allowed us to explore the possible role of ambivalence toward change as a mediator of the intervention's results.MethodsWe recruited 172 participants who were randomly divided into experimental (n = 85) and control (n = 87) groups. The intervention consisted of the identification of a current problem and four writing tasks on consecutive days. Assessment was conducted at baseline and posttest in both groups and at follow-up in the experimental group. Participants in the experimental condition were also assessed after each task. Measures of anxiety, depression, rumination, ambivalence toward change, distress, and wellbeing (optimism, affect, and satisfaction with life) were collected.ResultsMultivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that participants in the experimental group had a significant decrease from baseline to posttest in ambivalence toward change and rumination when compared with the control group. These results were maintained at follow-up. No differences were found in the remaining measures. Within the experimental group, ambivalence toward change, rumination, and distress significantly decreased throughout the intervention and the exploratory mediation analysis indicated that ambivalence toward change partially mediated the improvements in rumination and distress.DiscussionConsidering different perspectives about a current problem and using a combination of expressive and positive writing fostered the reduction of ambivalence toward change and rumination. Ambivalence toward change reduction after the second writing task may have created optimal conditions for the subsequent decrease in rumination and distress. Future studies should replicate this finding and dismantle the components that are more adequate in changing these variables.
| S-EPMC9301038 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundInternational cooperation for infection control is important to prevent global pandemics. University students were difficult groups to manage of infection control measures. They often had overconfidence to their health, ineffective personal hygiene, and active social activities. Their misperceptions and inappropriate preventive behaviors increase the infection risks to university and community. Understanding university students' perceptions of airborne infection management will contribute to the establishment of relevant policies and health education programs.MethodThis study explored subjective perceptions of airborne infection among university students in South Korea using Q-methodology. Forty university students representing different majors ranked a set of 33 statements reflecting their perceptions of airborne infection. They sorted the statements into a distribution on seven scales ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Collected data were analyzed by the PC-QUANL program. The subjective perception types were extracted by using the principal component analysis.ResultsFour type are derived regardingperception of airborne infection: Type I (Government responsibility), Type II (Personal responsibility in self-management), Type III (Strict external management) and Type IV (Comprehensive countermeasures management). Thesefour types accounted for 45.6% of the total variance, and the individual contributions of Types I, II, III, and IV were 27.7, 7.6, 6.2, and 4.1%, respectively.ConclusionThe major contribution of this study is to clarify university students' perceptions of airborne infection. These findings can be used in formulating effective strategies for health education, media reporting, and public health policy to improve airborne infection management.
| S-EPMC7781183 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The data presented in this paper is used to examine the factors influencing students' online shopping behaviour and to identify the students' segmentation on the important factors. The survey was conducted in the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya, the biggest science and technology university in East Indonesia, with multicultural and diverse socio-economic students' backgrounds. The total number of population is 20448 students. Using Yamane's formula, a sample size of 393 students was surveyed online, and 83 of them experienced doing online shopping. A quantitative method with a descriptive research design was adopted to explore insights in the data related to the objective of the research. The survey data were analyzed by linear regression and hierarchical clustering. The conceptual framework of the variables are given, and reliability and validity have been confirmed. Data were analyzed with MINITAB and SPSS software.
| S-EPMC6965723 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Virtual reality self-counseling (VR-SC) is considered an effective approach for addressing mental health problems. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of VR-SC using Sigmund Freud's avatar as the counselor. However, considering that virtual reality (VR) enables embodied perspective-taking of another person, VR-SC using the avatar of a person who cares about the participant (an intimate person), such as a family member or friend, is considered effective because it could create warm attitudes toward the participants themselves. In this study, 60 undergraduate and graduate students were split into three conditions: VR-SC with intimate persons, VR-SC with Freud, and a control group. The intervention effects were then compared. The results showed that VR-SC with an intimate person was the most effective in improving anxiety symptoms. These results may be attributed to accepting and affirming oneself from the perspective of the intimate person's avatar and counseling oneself. This study is significant in that it is the first to conduct VR-SC with the avatar of an intimate person and compare the effects with Freud's avatar. More importantly, it showed that the same VR-SC method could have different effects depending on the avatar of the counseling partner.
| S-EPMC11224315 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundStudents beginning university are at a heightened risk for developing mental health disorders. Online prevention and early intervention programmes targeting mental health have the potential to reduce this risk, however, previous research has shown uptake to be rather poor. Understanding university stakeholders' (e.g. governing level and delivery staff [DS] and students) views and attitudes towards such online prevention programmes could help with their development, implementation and dissemination within university settings.MethodsSemi-structured interviews, focus groups and online surveys were completed with staff at a governing level, university students and DS (i.e. student health or teaching staff) from six European countries. They were asked about their experiences with, and needs and attitudes towards, online prevention programmes, as well as the factors that influence the translation of these programmes into real-world settings. Results were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsParticipating stakeholders knew little about online prevention programmes for university settings; however, they viewed them as acceptable. The main themes to emerge were the basic conditions and content of the programmes, the awareness and engagement, the resources needed, the usability and the responsibility and ongoing efforts to increase reach.ConclusionsOverall, although these stakeholders had little knowledge about online prevention programmes, they were open to the idea of introducing them. They could see the potential benefits that these programmes might bring to a university setting as a whole and the individual students and staff members.
| S-EPMC8495721 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionFood waste (FW) represents a significant social and environmental problem, with 1.3 billion tons of food wasted yearly worldwide. Even if consumers are increasingly aware of the phenomenon, it remains relevant, and understanding the behaviors of specific target audience segments appears instrumental to the planning of effective interventions. To this end, we designed an observational study to investigate, throughout an online questionnaire, FW-related habits of university students in a Southern Italian region.MethodsA representative sample of 431 students from the University of Catanzaro Magna Graecia completed an online survey aimed at investigate FW related behaviors. A descriptive analysis was performed on the whole cohort, and a formal statistical analysis was carried out after excluding responders who had not correctly followed the survey instructions (n = 85). Differences were assessed by chi square (χ 2) tests. A food wasting score was generated, and differences in the score values were analyzed by Student T-test. Linear and multiple regression analyses were performed to identify factors contributing to the score.ResultsOverall, the results of our survey show a high prevalence of virtuous behaviors in the food purchasing phase; while, at home, less than 50% of respondents apply easy-to-implement waste prevention rules. The statistical analysis showed that the major determinants of FW were: no direct involvement in grocery shopping and male gender. Indeed, even if we observed several significant differences comparing subgroups based on established or putative determinants of FW behaviors, none survived matching for group size, gender and relevant food managing (shopping, storing, cooking) habits. The only exception was the more appropriate handling of "use by" products by respondents who received structured nutrition teaching, as opposed to students whose academic courses do not include this subject (adjusted p = 0.008).ConclusionOur data suggest that young adults are trying to implement strategies to reduce FW, even if there is room for improvement, particularly in the storage phase. Extending nutrition education to all university programs may be helpful in reaching this goal.
| S-EPMC11333036 | biostudies-literature