Why some students do not use university counseling facilities.

Abstract

EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 *College Students, Counseling, *Counseling Centers, Counseling Programs, Counseling Services, *StudelA Attitudes, Student Opinion, Student Personnel Programs, *Student Personnel Services, Student Personnel Work, *Student Problems A four part instrument for empirically answering how stigma, seriousness of problem, student attitudes, counseling experience, and information affect student usage of the university counseling facilities is discussed. The four parts, completed by 181 students, include: (1) biographical data; (2) five sub-scales derived through item analysis with good internal consistency and homogeneity; (3) a checklist of problems; and (4) whom subjects would take problems to. Results indicate: (1) that subjects are favorable to the concept of counseling; (2) that the stigma of seeking counseling is of little concern; (3) that subjects generally have little information about the counseling center and the counseling process; (4) that friends, close relatives, faculty, and psychological services, in that order, would be chosen for help with personal problems; and (5) that depression, choice of major, and the future are the most common problems, while drugs and alcohol are the least common. (Author/TL)