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Counselling support for the social-emotional wellbeing of young people in Hong Kong: Developing a model of counsellor effectiveness = 針對香港青少年群體和情感健康的輔導支援: 發展有效的輔導員體系
Principal Investigator
Department
Grant Awarding Body
Research Grants Council
Grant Type
Faculty Development Scheme
Project Code
UGC/FDS15/H07/23
Amount Awarded
HK$874,100
Funding Year
2023-2024
Duration of the Project
24 months
Status
Completed
Abstract
The wellbeing of young people in Hong Kong is poor and has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary school students are particularly at risk of suffering from poor mental health, impacting their life satisfaction, academic work, and future contribution to society. School counselling is an evidence-based practice which can support the wellbeing of children and adolescents. Local schools typically provide wellbeing support by means of Comprehensive School Guidance Programmes, planned and delivered primarily by teachers and social workers. There are many qualified and experienced counsellors in Hong Kong possessing a counselling degree from UGC-funded universities. However, few of these counsellors are currently contributing effectively to the city’s wellbeing provision for children and adolescents. Hence, there exists an ‘untapped resource’ in Hong Kong, which could be effectively utilised to support the wellbeing of young people. Many factors influence the effectiveness of school counsellors, including their perceived professional identity and roles, factors related to the school climate such as principal support, the adequacy of available resources, and collaborative working practices among staff, and the wider sociocultural setting. The proposed study aims to investigate the factors contributing to the effectiveness of school counsellors working in secondary schools in Hong Kong. The final product of the research is a model of how counsellors’ effectiveness depends on their professional identity and role function, factors which are themselves influenced by school climate factors and the sociocultural context of Hong Kong. Given that so little research has been conducted into school counsellors’ effectiveness in Hong Kong, the study adopts an exploratory qualitative approach, collecting interview data on the perceptions of different stakeholders in local and international schools. The benefit of this approach is in developing a rich and nuanced understanding of the factors supporting and impeding school counsellors’ effectiveness through the triangulation of findings across a diverse range of school settings serving a varied demographic of the city’s young people. The qualitative approach makes possible the proposal of a theoretical model which can be tested quantitatively in subsequent research. Several categories of participant will be recruited from the researchers’ extensive professional networks, namely school counsellors, students, principals, and students. Individual semi-structured interviews will be conducted, and reflexive thematic analysis will be used to develop themes which, in turn, will form the basis of the model of school counsellor effectiveness. The theoretical novelty of this model is in bridging research on professional identity, the influence of school climate and cultural factors on counsellors’ practice, and school counsellor effectiveness. The model may also be applicable to other Confucian-heritage societies, given their similarities to Hong Kong in several sociocultural dimensions. In addition to the theoretical contribution of a testable model of school counsellor effectiveness, the study has several policy and practice impacts at the levels of individual counsellors, schools, and government. A set of recommendations derived from the study’s findings will facilitate the development and implementation of policy at the school and government levels to better utilise school counsellors in Hong Kong.