Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling
Background: University counselling services assume a fundamental support function for students who are facing moments of crisis during their academic career. Such services often aim to reduce drop-out rates and achieve improvement in terms of psychological well-being. COVID-19 contagion containment...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Messina
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/MJCP/article/view/3705 |
| _version_ | 1797831636038975488 |
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| author | Giovanna Esposito Raffaella Passeggia Giuliana Pepicelli Anna Cannata Maria Rosaria Di Natale Federica Parlato Maria Francesca Freda |
| author_facet | Giovanna Esposito Raffaella Passeggia Giuliana Pepicelli Anna Cannata Maria Rosaria Di Natale Federica Parlato Maria Francesca Freda |
| author_sort | Giovanna Esposito |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: University counselling services assume a fundamental support function for students who are facing moments of crisis during their academic career. Such services often aim to reduce drop-out rates and achieve improvement in terms of psychological well-being. COVID-19 contagion containment measures have also had an impact on the psychological health of university students and their ability to cope with important developmental tasks. It has become necessary, therefore, to offer online counselling services which has become, however, the means of choice to support students during the university course in the pandemic era, as a complementary intervention to the traditional face-to-face approach.
Methods: In a clinical and health psychology perspective, this study aims to analyze the efficacy of 13 online counselling groups involving 66 underachieving students, lagging with their studies. The intervention has adopted the methodology of the Narrative Mediation Path, which aims at promoting mentalization, academic engagement and psychological well-being in order to have an impact on students’ academic performance and prevent university dropouts. At the beginning and end of counselling the following measures were administered: a) Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, b) Psychological General Well-Being Index Short Form, c) Academic Performance Inventory, d) University Student Engagement Inventory, e) Group Climate Questionnaire.
Results: The results showed that online counselling groups enabled an overall improvement in all the variables considered.
Conclusion: Overall, the present study showed the efficacy of the online group counselling service in supporting students during the pandemic period and in coping with the difficulties encountered during the academic career. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:54:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9ccf7d5c57c949ab92d462c0c39f8830 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2282-1619 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:54:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | University of Messina |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-9ccf7d5c57c949ab92d462c0c39f88302023-05-08T09:48:27ZengUniversity of MessinaMediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology2282-16192023-04-0111310.13129/2282-1619/mjcp-37052971Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group CounsellingGiovanna Esposito0Raffaella Passeggia1Giuliana Pepicelli2Anna Cannata3Maria Rosaria Di Natale4Federica Parlato5Maria Francesca Freda6Department of Humanities, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesDepartment of Humanities, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesSInAPSi Center, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesSInAPSi Center, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesSInAPSi Center, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesSInAPSi Center, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesDepartment of Humanities, University of Naples Federico II, NaplesBackground: University counselling services assume a fundamental support function for students who are facing moments of crisis during their academic career. Such services often aim to reduce drop-out rates and achieve improvement in terms of psychological well-being. COVID-19 contagion containment measures have also had an impact on the psychological health of university students and their ability to cope with important developmental tasks. It has become necessary, therefore, to offer online counselling services which has become, however, the means of choice to support students during the university course in the pandemic era, as a complementary intervention to the traditional face-to-face approach. Methods: In a clinical and health psychology perspective, this study aims to analyze the efficacy of 13 online counselling groups involving 66 underachieving students, lagging with their studies. The intervention has adopted the methodology of the Narrative Mediation Path, which aims at promoting mentalization, academic engagement and psychological well-being in order to have an impact on students’ academic performance and prevent university dropouts. At the beginning and end of counselling the following measures were administered: a) Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, b) Psychological General Well-Being Index Short Form, c) Academic Performance Inventory, d) University Student Engagement Inventory, e) Group Climate Questionnaire. Results: The results showed that online counselling groups enabled an overall improvement in all the variables considered. Conclusion: Overall, the present study showed the efficacy of the online group counselling service in supporting students during the pandemic period and in coping with the difficulties encountered during the academic career.https://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/MJCP/article/view/3705online group counsellingmentalizationpsychological well-beingacademic engagementuniversity drop-out. |
| spellingShingle | Giovanna Esposito Raffaella Passeggia Giuliana Pepicelli Anna Cannata Maria Rosaria Di Natale Federica Parlato Maria Francesca Freda Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology online group counselling mentalization psychological well-being academic engagement university drop-out. |
| title | Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling |
| title_full | Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling |
| title_fullStr | Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling |
| title_short | Supporting University Students During the Pandemic: A Study on The Efficacy of a Mentalizing Online Group Counselling |
| title_sort | supporting university students during the pandemic a study on the efficacy of a mentalizing online group counselling |
| topic | online group counselling mentalization psychological well-being academic engagement university drop-out. |
| url | https://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/MJCP/article/view/3705 |
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