Help-seeking behaviour and attitudes towards counselling: a qualitative study among Hong Kong Chinese university students

ABSTRACT

This study examined Hong Kong university students’ perception of general help-seeking and seeking of professional help. Thirty-two students, aged from 25 to 46 years were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was adopted. The results indicated four domains to categorise culture-influenced factors: attitudes towards speaking, relational concern, nature of the problem and assumptions about counselling. Hong Kong students are not reluctant to receive help but are reluctant to seek help from outsiders. Help is expected to be received from those within their social network. Passive coping strategies are normally adopted for finding relief and solving problems. These issues may greatly hinder people from consulting professional counsellors, or may limit the counselling process to something superficial and short term. The implications for counsellors are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Hong Kong Chinese culture
• help-seeking
• counselling
• passive coping
• trust
• university and students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Diego Busiol http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0016-6161

Notes on contributor

Dr Diego Busiol is an Italian clinical psychologist with extensive working experience in social work. He is also a licensed psychotherapist (psychoanalysis), and is currently doing research on the reception of psychoanalysis in Hong Kong at the Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong.