School counselling based on humanistic principles: A pilot randomized controlled trial in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial on a humanistic counselling intervention and obtained indications of its effectiveness. Thirty-three participants were assigned to either a treatment or a control group. Outcome measures were the Young Person’s Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Reductions in psychological distress were found in the treatment group compared to the control group on the YP-CORE, the SDQ total difficulty score, and the SDQ emotional symptoms subscale. At three-month follow-up, the intervention effects were sustained in the YP-CORE and SDQ hyperactivity subscale. The study suggests that a fully powered trial is feasible, and that the intervention is effective in reducing psychological distress in Chinese adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• School-based counselling
• humanistic
• randomized controlled trial
• Hong Kong

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Addendum

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the principals of the schools who participated in the study, the counsellors who carried out the intervention and all participants for their contribution. We also thank Allan Turner for providing training for the counsellors, and Prof. Mick Cooper for consultancy throughout the project.

Disclosure statement

As noted in the paper, the Chinese version of the YP-CORE used was the authors’ own translation. An official CORE System Trust (CST) approved translation is currently available in both traditional and simplified characters and the translation the authors used was, therefore, unauthorised by CST. See https://www.coresystemtrust.org.uk/translations/chinese/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark Gregory Harrison

Dr Mark Gregory Harrison has worked in secondary education settings in Hong Kong for 18 years. He is a teacher, a registered counsellor and has held several senior leadership positions in schools. His research interests are in school counselling, school-based mentoring, student wellbeing, and positive psychology in school settings in Hong Kong.

Zhenlin Wang

Dr Zhenlin Wang is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong. Trained as an early childhood teacher in Shannxi Normal University, she went on to pursue her postgraduate studies in developmental psychology. She holds two doctoral degrees from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, respectively. She was an exchange scholar at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at Cambridge University. Her research is sponsored by Hong Kong University Grants Committee’s General Research Fund and UK Economic and Social Research Council/Hong Kong University Grants Committee Joint Research Scheme. Her extensive research interests are reflected in her diverse publications covering the areas of children’s theory of mind, social development, play, parenting, early childhood curriculum and pedagogy, and cultural issues in development and education.