Self-esteem, stress, and utilization of counselling services amongst secondary school students in Jinja City

Abstract

The study focused on studying self-esteem, stress and utilization of counselling services amongst secondary school students in Jinja City and was guided by objectives, namely, to find out the level of self-esteem amongst secondary school students in Jinja City, establish the level of stress amongst secondary school students, determine the relationship between self-esteem, stress and utilization of counselling services amongst secondary school students and examine the role of counsellors in helping students in Jinja City secondary schools deal with stress. The study approach was explanatory sequential mixed method, and a cross-sectional design was used. Using both questionnaires and interview guides, data was collected from a sample size of 353 respondents who were selected using simple random and purposive sampling. Of these, 346 were students and 7 were counsellors. The study found that largely students had good self-esteem; students were averagely stressed; Counselling Services Utilization was positively correlated with self-esteem (r=.46, p<0.01) and negatively correlated with stress (r=-.35, p<0.01); while stress was negatively correlated with self-esteem (r=-.23, p<0.01). And finally, the study also found that counsellors help students cope with problems, provide a safe environment for the students to air out their challenges without being judged, help students by showing them how to avoid problems and recommend students for medical treatment. In conclusion, students had an average amount of self-esteem but with a significant amount of stress that could be attributed to their academic needs and other life challenges. However, counsellors are in a position to help them deal with the various challenges they face, and therefore, it was recommended that schools ensure that they employ professional counsellors to ensure quality counselling services, as this will help in improving the utilization of the services.