Date of Award
5-1-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
John Beineke
Committee Members
Joseph Nichols; Phillip Hestand
Call Number
LD251.A566d 2018 B76
Abstract
Today’s college students are under pressure not experienced by the previous generations. College counseling centers are experiencing increasing demands due to the changing needs of students. Unfortunately, with less university funding, increase demands of students, and lack of qualified counselors the college counseling centers have a difficult time meets the campus community’s needs. Community college are in a unique situation compared to the four-year institutions. The population tends to be from more disadvantaged backgrounds creating increased stress and a need for mental health services. However, due to the lack of funds and sources, many community colleges have limited mental health services. The purpose of this research project was to examine the perceptions of those in counseling roles in community colleges concerning the visibility of mental health services at community colleges in southeast of United States. Respondents were asked the following research questions: What are the perceptions of counseling staff regarding the visibility of campus mental health services? What level of confidence does counseling staff maintain regarding the visibility of mental health services? Is the educational level or years of service a factor in counseling staff perceptions concerning visibility of mental health services in community colleges? Using SPSS, the researcher completed frequency distributions, and Spearman Rho analysis. The survey asked the respondents about mental health services offered, the most reported service offered was referral services with 33.3 percent indicated their college offered the service. Research question two inquired about counseling staffs’ confidence level regarding visibility of mental health services. The analysis revealed that many of the services were not available on many of the campuses. Of those who offered the services, a wide range of percentages was indicated for “Confident” about students being aware of the services. Research question three asked if the educational level or years of service was a factor in counseling staff perceptions concerning the visibility of mental health services in community colleges. After completing the Spearman Rho, no significant results were found between education level and visibility of mental health services. There were no significant results found between years of service and visibility of mental health services.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Brock, Dava Lorene, "Counseling Staff Perceptions of Visibility of Mental Health Services at Community Colleges in Southeast United States" (2018). Student Theses and Dissertations. 520.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/520
