Establishing a counseling center for students at Shaqra university in Saudi Arabia : a delphi study

Abstract EN

University students face different problems during their academic lives.

the aim of this study was to examine the importance of establishing a student counseling center and what services the center should include from the perspectives of students, their families, and faculty members.

this study consists of 100 participants who participated in two rounds using a Delphi method.

a paper questionnaire was given in the first round and the participants were asked to rank services that could be suggested to be included in the student counseling center.

after completing the first round, an analysis was made, and participants were asked to electronically evaluate the services again in order to reach a consensus.

the results have shown that all participants agreed on the importance of establishing the center.

students gave the lowest evaluation compared to their families and faculty members, and they were less accepting of group therapy compared to individual therapy.

this might be related to stigma around mental health as the university is located in a province where the majority of students are well known compared to universities that are located in big cities.

recommendations from these projects would help decision makers at Shaqra university in establishing services depending on the results of this study.