Abstract
high prevalence of mental health challenges among South African university students, as exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic stressors, has created a demand for mental health support. Yet, little work has been done from a Clinical Sociology viewpoint in comparing the efficacy of in-person counselling and tele-counselling in combatting these mental health challenges. Knowledge about how different forms of counselling can occur through a heterointeractive encounter that leads to student empowerment is needed. The primary aim of this study was thus to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of in-person and tele-counselling at a South African public university in Johannesburg through heterointeractive encounters.
Ten qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted at the in-house unit of a Johannesburg university, and the interviews were thematically analysed. The results of this study were conceptualised through the concepts of critical consciousness, language as a form of cultural competence, and Erving Goffman’s understanding of stigma, which was used to unpack findings around access to the different forms of counselling.
The data shows university students experience financial and academic pressure as key stressors, whereas mental health challenges include depression and anxiety and more complex pathologies such as borderline personality disorder. The participants highlighted that while counselling is needed to cope with these challenges, access barriers such as stigma, lack of mental health professionals, and language must be addressed.
Furthermore, counselling sessions at the university were heterointeractive encounters because the participants noted equal power relations between counsellor and student, evident in counsellors working with the students to develop interventions together.
The participants stressed that empowerment is possible through counselling interventions as long as self-awareness is created and students implement coping skills. The findings also suggest that in-person and tele-counselling can be equally effective, though dependent on client preference, levels of social anxiety and the need to identify non-verbal cues. This study was, however, limited to a single university and could be usefully replicated in other university contexts.