INFLUENCE OF SELECTED FACTORS ON HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR
AMONG PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Background to the Study
Formal guidance and counselling started in America in the late 1890s and the early
1900s. Frank Parsons who has been called the father of vocational guidance was
among the pioneers of the guidance and counselling movement. Parsons established
the first career institution in the United States of America, and set the pace for the
development of psychological testing. Gradually the guidance and counselling
movement developed into an organised service. Later on in September 1968, guidance
and counselling services were set up within the department of education when the
recommendations made by Louis, a consultant sent over to Malta by United Nation‟s
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), were taken up
(Sammut, 1997).
Regionally, school guidance and counselling has also received a major boost as
different regions have accepted the programme and embraced it. In some countries,
guidance and counselling services are not new phenomenon. In Nigeria, for instance,
the services started to be incorporated into some school systems way back in 1959.
The essence of incorporating guidance and counselling into the school system was to
eliminate the problems many young people had on their choices of career prospects
and personality maladjustment. Based on these issues and more, career officers and
counsellors were appointed to take the responsibility in sensitising students on the
needs for effective career choices. Although these were untrained counsellors, their
efforts brought remarkable development in guidance and counselling in Nigeria that
led to organised body of counsellors (Oye, Obi, Mohd & Gwadabawa, 2012).
In Malawi the need for guidance and counselling was recognised when a survey was
conducted of 20 school counsellors in southern and central regions and the main
problems examined. It was proven that, there was great need for a clear rationale and
guidelines for guidance and counselling programmes (Taylor & Francis, 1998). In
Tanzania, professional guidance and counselling in schools began in the year 1984
following the National October 1984 Arusha Conference, where guidance and
counselling services were endorsed by the government as an integral part of the
country's education system (Biswalo, 1996).
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In Kenya, formal guidance and counselling was introduced in 1967, under the
Ministry of Education to help students deal with their day today challenges which
negatively impacted on their studies and overall adjustment to life. Later on, a report
of the National Committee on Education Objectives and Policies, the Gachathi
Report, recommended that the Ministry of Education should take charge of delivering
counselling services (Republic of Kenya 1977). The guidance and counselling
programme has continued to receive a lot of support from the government and private
agencies such as Amani Counselling Training Institute. Government commissions on
education emphasised the importance of guidance and counselling in secondary
schools. The commissions recommended introduction of guidance and counselling in
schools, training teachers on guidance and counselling and appointment of senior
teachers to head the guidance and counselling department among other issues
(Republic of Kenya, 1988; 1999). Therefore, guidance and counselling services are
essential elements in educational institutions due to different challenges learners
encounter.
Guidance and counselling programme aims at assisting people to overcome their
problems in life. According to Kenya Institute of Education (2004), guidance involves
a process in which an expert educates a person to make responsible decisions so as to
be able to handle challenges in his or her environment effectively. According to
Wango and Mungai (2007) counselling is a personal and dynamic relationship
between two individuals, one older and more experienced and wiser and another
younger, less experienced and less wise. According to Sikolia and Lutomia (2002),
counselling is the purposeful understanding of a person so as to promote self-
understanding in that person. Ndondo (2004) defines counselling as a process in
which the counselee having identified an emotional problem is helped by the
counsellor to see his problem clearly until he is able to give himself advice
considering his opinions, abilities and limitations in solving it.
Guidance and counselling programme is an integral part of an educational system and
is designed to address the physical, emotional, social, vocational and academic
challenges faced by adolescent students (Eyo, Joshua & Esuong, 2010). This is
necessary because some problems that the adolescents encounter place a great
challenge on them and their effects might impair their overall development. At this
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stage of human development, the adolescents have developmental needs, start
defining their independence and are also concerned with career path they will embark
on when they graduate from secondary schools, among other concerns.
Therefore, adolescents need guidance and counselling in making concrete and
compounded decisions which include dealing with academic pressures as they face
high-stakes testing, deal with relationships and also cope with psychological
problems. Consequences of these problems range from poor academic performance to
numerous cases of strikes and indiscipline in secondary schools in Kenya (Republic
of Kenya, 2001). Despite the challenges encountered in secondary schools, corporal
punishment and expulsion have been banned by the Ministry of Education and instead
schools have been directed to embrace counselling as a behavioural correction tool to
ensure overall adjustment of students (Republic of Kenya, 1999).
Guidance and counselling programme plays a vital role in preventing educational,
vocational, personal, social, emotional and other problems among secondary school
students. It is believed that the success of any programme in school lies on the
students‟ attitude towards it. The way students perceive and respond to guidance and
counselling services will to a great extent determine whether or not guidance and
counselling services will be effectively utilised in schools.
The utilisation of guidance and counselling programme leads to the development of
the help-seeking behaviour. Help-seeking behaviour is an important aspect of coping
behaviour, which involves asking for assistance from others, to help resolve a problem
(Boldero & Fallon, 1995; Rickwood, 1995). Students are faced with problems, in
some cases they may not be able to handle them on their own and hence the problems
may impair their overall adjustment in life if they fail to seek help. However previous
researches have shown mixed findings, with some reporting that students do not seek
help from teacher counsellors and other potential help providers (Suradi, 2010;
Nyamwange, Nyakan & Ondima, 2012) with others showing that they do (Mohd. A,
Mohd. S, & Izzah 2010: Mokogi, 2008).
One of the factors noted to influence counselling help seeking behaviour is the
students‟ attitude towards seeking psychological help. Attitudes are predispositions 3
which have developed through long and complex processes. Ubom (2001) defines
attitude as an individual perception and reaction to a task which is expected to be
carried out or executed in a group, institution, school setting or an organisation. Some
studies have tried to establish the gender differences in attitudes towards counselling.
Research among Kuwait University students established that female students had a
more positive attitude towards seeking counselling help than their counterpart male
students (Odah, 2001). Another study by Lonnie and Darrell (2007), in a study of
attitudes toward counselling and counsellor preference, got similar findings that
gender is a statistically significant predictor of attitudes toward counselling with
females being associated with more favourable attitudes toward seeking counselling.
Ubana (2008) in a study on the attitude of secondary school students towards
guidance and counselling services in Yakurr local government area of Cross River
State came up with the findings that students‟ attitudes toward guidance and
counselling services were negative and that gender of the student had no significant
influence on the students‟ attitudes toward guidance and counselling services.
Another factor that influences help seeking is the perceived problem severity.
Different studies have shown that as the severity of a problem increases the tendency
to seek counselling help increases. Phillipa (2007) found out that, adolescents
perceive formal sources of help as more appropriate for severe symptoms of
depression than informal sources such as friends and family. Therefore, the
adolescents who experience a high level of impairment and distress are generally
more likely to seek mental health services. Moghadam (2009) also found that the
willingness to self-disclose to a counsellor and the severity of the problem were
significantly related to willingness to seek help. Therefore, the more severe the
problem, the more likely the student would seek counselling.
Another factor noted to influence help-seeking behaviour is the locus of control.
Locus of control is whether or not an individual believes that he or she has the
personal resources to cope with a problem. People with high internal locus of control
believe that events result primarily from their own behaviour and actions while those
with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance
primarily determine events (Rotter, 1954). Fischer and Turner (1970) found that
individuals with an internal locus of control had more favourable attitudes toward
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seeking professional help. Similarly, Lefcourt (1991) and Davis (1996) concluded that
individuals with an internal locus of control made more use and benefitted more from
social support systems than do their external counterparts. However, another study
observed contrary findings where by an external locus of control was associated with
high likelihood of seeking counselling help. Oladipo and Oyenuga (2013) found a
significant relationship between external locus of control and psychological help
seeking behaviour and concluded that those people with an external locus of control
are more likely to seek counselling help than those with internal locus of control. This
study will therefore try to find out if locus of control has an influence on help-seeking
behaviour among students under study.
Among Kenyan schools, guidance and counselling programme has not achieved its
intended goals despite the support it has received from Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology (MOEST), as cases of indiscipline in Kenyan secondary schools have
continued to be on an upward trend and this could be attributed to students‟ failure to
utilise the programme. In 2008, there were numerous unrests reported in Kenyan
secondary schools and there was also destruction of property. Many stake-holders
attributed strikes to the ban on canning and corporal punishment, drugs and alcohol
use among students among other causes (Gikonyo, 2005).
Nairobi and Nyeri counties have been among the regions affected by such incidences.
Some secondary school students in Nairobi were found to be working in collaboration
with public vehicle touts and drivers and some non-teaching staff in supplying drugs
to other students (Maithya, 2009). Another incidence in Nairobi County is the sodomy
case of a boy by his colleagues in Upper Hill School. In Nyeri, it has been noted that
there have been many incidences of students burning school property and even in
some cases killing their colleagues. In 2012, Giakanja Secondary School students
burnt a dormitory while in Nyeri and Endarasha High Schools dormitory fires resulted
in the loss of lives (Republic of Kenya, 2001; Wambugu, 2012). There has also been a
drop in educational standards as indicated by the performance in the Kenya Certificate
of Secondary Education (KCSE) in some of the schools. Among them are Nyeri High
and Bishop Gatimu Ngandu High school which were ranked position 60 and 55
respectively in the 2012 KCSE results (Mathangani & Odour, 2012), while in 2005
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they were among the top 20‟s in the republic (http://www.kcse-online.info/kcse
%2028/education%20138.html).
Researches further show that the rural and urban areas differ due to their different
social environments and experiences. People in urban areas are more exposed to
images and messages promoting tobacco and alcohol unlike their counterparts in rural
areas (Schaefer 1996). Also prevalence of heroin and cocaine use among rural youth
populations is generally low, this is due to exposure and also those in urban areas have
more opportunities to try new drugs and are exposed to more peer influence and
media than the rural youths (Adelekan, 1999).
Nairobi is an urban area and also a major international entry point and hence a transit
route for illegal drugs and this could be a key contributor of it being ranked highly on
drug use such as bhang, inhalants, tobacco and alcohol among students at either
position 1 or 2 while Central province, a rural area where Nyeri is found, was either
position 2 or 3 out of the 8 former provinces in Kenya in usage of the same drugs
(NACADA, 2004). Kombo (2005) notes that, a higher proportion of students who
abuse drugs reside in urban areas as compared to their counterparts in rural areas. The
drug use is an issue of concern because it has been noted to be a main cause of
violence in schools and also indiscipline (Gikonyo, 2005) and this can in turn
contribute to poor performance in examinations. There is therefore need to ensure that
learners in secondary are stable physically, psychologically and emotionally to ensure
they emerge as well adjusted citizens.
However, a major contributor to the scenario in schools could be the student‟s failure
to utilise guidance and counselling services despite the many challenges they
encounter. This may imply that the students in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties may not
have developed the help-seeking behaviour. This is because students with help-
seeking behaviour seek help, are able to overcome their problems and hence smoothly
handle the challenges they encounter hence any effort to change the trend would go a
long way in helping students. Studies have shown mixed findings that some students
seeking counselling while other do not. However, majority of these findings are for
researches carried out outside Kenya, but even the ones carried out in Kenya, are
either in an urban or rural without any comparisons being made between rural and
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urban areas. There are also many studies carried out in Kenya to establish the attitude of
students towards counselling and also challenges encountered by teacher counsellors and
students. However, no research has been carried out on comparing factors influencing
help-seeking behaviour in rural and urban areas in Kenya. The two counties used in the
study, Nyeri (rural) and Nairobi (urban) were appropriate to help in filling the gaps
identified.
Statement of the Problem
Secondary school students are faced with many problems which they are unable to solve
on their own and they therefore need assistance in handling them. Guidance and
counselling programme if well implemented can assist students in problem solving.
However, researches have shown mixed findings in relation to seeking help, with some
reporting that students do not seek help from teacher counsellors but others showing that
they do. Students in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties continue to experience many problems
as evidenced by cases of maladaptive behaviours such as becoming members of illegal
gangs, breaking of school rules, bullying, truancy, drug abuse, alcohol addiction, and
irresponsible sexual behaviour. This could imply that the guidance and counselling
services have not been properly embraced or they have not impacted on students‟ lives as
expected and hence they might not have achieved their intended goals. There is therefore
need to find out if failure to seek help could be contributing to these problems. It is also
important to ensure that students in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties develop help-seeking
behaviour as this may go a long way in ensuring that the students in the regions seek help
from their teacher counsellors when they encounter challenges. Since no study on
comparing help-seeking has been carried out in the regions, the study was intended to
find out if public secondary students in Nyeri and Nairobi counties differ in their help-
seeking behaviour and also to compare the influence of gender, attitude towards
psychological help, problem severity and locus of control on help seeking behaviour
among public secondary school students in the two counties.
