Chinese parents’ perceptions of school counselling in Hong Kong: A mixed-methods crosscultural comparison

Abstract

School counselling is an effective means of supporting young people’s psychosocial wellbeing. Parental support for school counselling is associated with better outcomes, but little is known about parents’ perceptions of school counselling in Hong Kong. We adopted a sequential mixed-methods design to investigate Chinese and non-Chinese parents’ perceptions. In phase one, a survey was conducted with 287 parents in Hong Kong. Factor analysis suggested that Chinese parents had a poorer understanding of the role of counsellors, had more negative perceptions of counselling, and were less likely to believe in the benefits of counselling than did non-Chinese parents. In phase two, we interviewed 14 Chinese and 13 non-Chinese parents, and conducted a content analysis on the data. Three themes were generated which indicated that Chinese parents experienced greater fear and stigma about approaching a counsellor, had a poorer understanding of counselling, and were less likely to believe that counselling was beneficial than the nonChinese parents. These findings may reflect the cultural characteristics of Hong Kong’s Confucian heritage society and the weak development of counselling in the territory. Schools may consider more proactive engagement with parents and should establish more effective communication which is sensitive to cultural norms to promote a better understanding of and willingness to participate in school counselling.