a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

More documents

Recommendations

Info

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSSince a much higher rate of students decided not to access the counselling servicewhen they felt in need of help than was the case with the medical service, it isespecially important to examine students’ explanations of their decisions not to attend.Some 176 students fell into this category, although not all of these responded to thequestions concerning their reasons for deciding not to go. Students were given theopportunity to select more than one reason. Table 82 presents the relevantinformation.Table 82Reasons for students not using the health service: percentage of responsesReasonsPercentage of responsesYes NoG9a I did not know how to get an appointment. (n=150) 62.0 38.0G9b I felt uncomfortable asking for help. (n=150) 55.3 44.7G9c I felt they would not understand me. (n=145) 46.9 53.1G9d I thought my problem was not important enough. (n=148) 64.9 35.1G9e I didn’t know there was such a service. (n=143) 39.2 60.8G9f I didn’t know where to go. (n=151) 65.6 34.4G9g I didn’t know the service was free. (n=146) 39.7 60.3G9h I thought it might influence my academic results. (n=136) 8.8 91.2G9i I thought they wouldn’t be able to help me. (n=143) 47.6 52.4G9j I went to a service off-campus. (n=134) 3.7 96.3G9k Other (n=38)The most common reasons students give for deciding not to access the counsellingservice when in need are similar to those given for the decision not to visit the healthservice. Close to 65 per cent of students who felt the need for counselling helpthought their problem was not important enough (G19d). Students also indicate theylacked relevant information: a high percentage said they did not know where to go(G19f) or did not know how to get an appointment (G19a). However, being unawareof the cost-free nature of the service (G19g) was used less frequently as a reason inrelation to the counselling service.A much higher percentage of students indicate a feeling of discomfort (G19b) aboutasking for counselling help than for medical help (55.3 per cent compared with 30.4per cent). There also seems to be a stronger perception that the counselling servicewould not understand them (G19c) and would be unable to help them (G19i). As withthe health service, there is only a very small percentage of students who think theiracademic results might be influenced by the use of the counselling service (G19h).There are 13 students who offer other reasons for not using the counselling service, inspite of their perceived need for help, with one student providing two reasons. Asmall number of these responses (n=3) repeat reasons already offered explicitly withinthe questionnaire item. The most common additional reason given is students’Russell, Rosenthal & Thomson, 2006 103
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSperception that they did not have enough time to visit the counselling service (n=5).Other reasons concern perceived difficulty in making an appointment (n=1), ananticipated language barrier (n=1), poor prior experience (n=1), fear of the diagnosisor outcome (n=1), procrastination (n=1), and an undertaking to seek help nextsemester (n=2).OTHER SERVICESThere are many other non-academic services offered to international students by theuniversity in addition to health and counselling services. Of the 951 students whoresponded to the question about their use of other services, 154 or 16.2 per centacknowledge accessing one or more of these other services. Of these, 150 specifiedthe service that has been used, with 16 students indicating that they had used morethan one service.The most frequently used service is the housing service (n=55). The careers andemployment (n=37) and the financial aid services (n=30) were also used by manystudents. Other services accessed by students include language assistance (n=11),scholarships (n=5), legal assistance (n=3) and a range of other less commonlymentioned services such as chaplaincy, child care, and parking.SOURCES OF INFORMATIONStudents gave as a common reason for not accessing health or counselling servicestheir lack of knowledge or information about those services. The ease of obtaininginformation about student services is a basic factor in use of those services. Studentsrated the ease with which they were able to obtain information about universityhealth, counselling and other services. The results are presented in Table 83.Between 42 and 55 per cent of students agree that it is easy to find out informationabout university services, with the percentage varying according to the type ofservice. Information about health services is seen to be most easily accessed, whileinformation about counselling services is least readily accessed. A repeated measuresanalysis of variance shows these differences in perception of information accessibilityto be statistically significant 351 .Table 83Perceived ease of obtaining information about university servicesItems Mean SD 0Not at allG22. It is easy to find out about the health servicesprovided by the university. (n=616)G23. It is easy to find out about the counsellingservices provided by the university.. (n=610)G24. It is easy to find out about other servicesprovided by the university. (n=615)Percentage ratings1Somewhat2Very3Extremely1.6 1.0 13.6 31.5 34.4 20.51.4 0.9 18.5 39.3 31.1 11.01.5 0.9 12.7 37.9 37.2 12.2What are the sources of information that students rely on if they wish to obtaininformation about university services? Table 84 presents the relative usefulness of a351 F(1.9, 1155) =38.64, p
Page 5:
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIO
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIO
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190:
show all

a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?