Students’ perceptions of guidance and counselling Services in mitigating psychosocial distress in selected Universities in Tanzania

Abstract

Students in universities experience a wide variety of challenges that result in psychosocial distress, a situation that can be mitigated through guidance and counselling services. Universities in Tanzania have functional guidance and counselling departments which, unfortunately, are not fully utilised by students. Based on the above situation, the goal of the study was to determine the students’ perception of guidance and counselling services. The specific objectives were; to establish the prevalence of psychosocial distress among university students, to determine the hindrances to effective use of guidance and counselling services, analyse ways of mitigating psychosocial distress, suggest measures to enhance consumption of guidance and counselling services by students in Tanzanian universities. Existential therapy formed the theoretical framework of the study. Based on a mixed method approach the study was anchored on pragmatic philosophical paradigm. The study adopted an Ex- post facto design. The study was undertaken in two universities, one public and one private. The target population was 13,562. The sample consisted of 377 students, 2 counsellors and 2 deans of students making a sample size of 381 respondents. Two counsellors, 2 Deans of Students were purposively selected while a multistage sampling design was applied to get 377 undergraduate students. Questionnaire, focus group discussions, document analysis, and structured interviews were used to collect data. Validity of the focus group discussion guides and interview schedule was ensured through expert judgement. A split half reliability index of 0.887 was obtained for GHQ- 12 questionnaire while a Cronbach’s coefficient alpha value of 0.815 was obtained for questionnaire on students’ perception. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, single regression analysis and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) while thematic analysis was applied to qualitative data. In the ANOVA output P<α, where P=0.048 and α=0.05 therefore, students’ year of study has a relationship with psychosocial stressors prevalence. This study established that university students had negative perception towards guidance and counselling services because the mean rank for both public and private university students were 27.48 and 31.8 respectively hence falling between 12-32. Qualitative results indicated that students had negative perception because guidance and counselling services are offered under the Dean of Students office who is viewed by students as a disciplinarian rather than a counsellor. It also established that psychosocial distress was prevalent in universities in Tanzania evidenced by numerous cases of suicide and substance abuse among university students. The study also established the hindrances to effective delivery of guidance and counselling as inadequate personnel, inadequate training for counsellors, and unavailability of appropriate counselling offices in the universities. To enhance consumption of guidance and counselling services, it was suggested that the guidance and counselling services should be separated from the Deans of Students’ office and peer counselling be professionalised. Based on these findings, the study recommends full institutionalisation of G&C and its separation from the Dean of Students office. There is need to recruit adequate and professionally trained counsellors as well as strengthen peer counselling programme in the universities of Tanzania to change students’ perception of G&C services and enhance usage