Unlocking Student Satisfaction: The Impact of Therapeutic Engagement in University Counseling Services
Keywords:
Counseling, University students, Therapeutic engagement, Alliance, Satisfaction, Mental healthAbstract
This quantitative ‘cross-sectional correlational study’ aimed to examine the relationship between therapeutic engagement and satisfaction levels among university students with their counselors. Sample size consisted of 60 university students from six universities located in Karachi, University road. Twenty students from each university were selected who were receiving mental health counseling. Two tools were utilized to assess the relationship between variables including Working Alliance Inventory for therapeutic engagement and Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction for satisfaction levels. Findings reveal that students scored high on the therapeutic alliance with strong agreement on mutual goal setting and understanding of changes and majority expressed satisfaction with the counseling services within the university as highest satisfaction noted in decision-making and service quality. The relationship between therapeutic alliance and satisfaction levels was significant through Wilcoxon test, and enhances understanding of the impact of therapeutic engagement on the level of satisfaction in student counseling services, providing insights to improve mental health support and counseling strategies in educational settings. For student satisfaction with counseling services, a strong therapeutic alliance is crucial to overcome mental health issues. The study recommended improvement in accessibility to counseling, professional training programs for counselors, awareness programs for students to access counseling services, and adopting evidence-based practices to enhance counseling efficiency. Further study could explore the impact of different therapeutic approaches such as traditional versus digital therapy.
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