Ideally, students requesting services should be seen quickly at their university counseling center to increase the likelihood of a successful treatment outcome. However, in these times of ever-increasing demand for university counseling services and the challenges of securing resources to keep up with that demand, the reality of prompt appointments can be far different during most of the academic year. This study looked at the relationship between wait time after triage and show rate for intake at a large counseling center that uses a triage walk-in-clinic format for students accessing services. Although triage allows for an appropriate rapid response to the most at-risk students, we were concerned about attrition among "average" students seeking counseling, assessed as nonurgent at triage, during the wait for their intake. The current study found a statistically significant positive relationship for this nonurgent population between length of wait time after triage and no-show rate for the scheduled intake after triage. We present preliminary thoughts about these findings, discuss our study limitations, and pose future research questions.
Social connectedness is an important antecedent of life satisfaction for undergraduates. Brief counseling can increase transition students' social connectedness and life satisfaction.
The overall goal of this study was to explore the usefulness of a Perceived Service Promptness (PSP) measure for University Counseling Centers (UCCs). As UCCs compete for university resources, helping a client as quickly as possible or PSP can help to support a UCC's documented ability to meet increasing client demands. Since no prior empirical research was found measuring PSP at a UCC, a four-item measure, adapted from a more general quality of service scale, was used. From August 2014 to May 2016, one hundred and seventeen non-urgent undergraduate students seeking counseling services filled out an online survey measuring demographics, client perceptions, wait measures, PSP and recommending the university. Confirmatory factor analysis and scale reliability data psychometrically supported the PSP scale. Correlational analyses showed that both wait time and wait bother experience were each significantly negatively related to PSP. However, hierarchical regression analyses showed that wait bother experience, but not wait time, significantly explained PSP beyond prior controlled-for demographic and client perception variables. In addition, PSP positively explained recommending the university beyond demographic, client perception and wait measures. Research limitations and future research issues are discussed.
Data for non-urgent undergraduate clients at a University Counseling Center (UCC) were collected using on-line surveys over three time-periods. Despite the expected diminishing number of participants over time, within-time correlations generally showed that level of mental distress and mental health concerns were negatively related to life satisfaction, while self-esteem was positively related. Using a smaller sample of matched-over-three time-periods clients, levels of mental distress and mental health concerns significantly declined, while life satisfaction significantly increased. The strongest changes for this complete data sample were found from Time 1 to Time 3 for reduced mental health concerns and increased life satisfaction. These findings reinforce that additional counseling sessions for undergraduates may be beneficial, and that spreading these sessions out may also be useful. Scientifically demonstrating to higher-level University administration that a UCC can help undergraduates in distress should ideally help the UCC to increase its allocation of university-based resources.
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