Counsellor deliberate self-disclosure and therapy seeking behaviours among Kenyan undergraduate students in Kenyan universities

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between counsellor-deliberate self-disclosure and therapy-seeking behaviours among undergraduate students in Kenyan universities. The Social Comparison Theory informed this study. The study utilised convergent parallel mixed-methods design. A sample size of 352 students was obtained using stratified random sampling. Deliberate Self-disclosure and Intentions to Seek Therapy Inventories. The internal validity of the constructs in the questionnaires was tested by subjecting the survey data to suitability tests using the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO Index) and the Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient analysis was used to investigate the internal consistency of the questionnaires. Quantitative data were analysed using inferential statistics in the Pearson Correlation coefficient and simple linear regression analysis, while qualitative data was analysed thematically. The findings indicated a weak but positive correlation between counsellors’ deliberate self-disclosure and Therapy seeking behaviour (r=.140, n=352, p=008) among university students. The study recommends that the university counsellors should be trained on the effective use of self-disclosure as a technique in therapy practice.

Keywords

• deliberate self-disclosure
• counsellor
• therapy seeking behaviours
• undergraduate students
• kenyan universities