LATENT PROFILES OF COUNSELLING SERVICE RESISTANCE AMONG NIGERIAN TERTIARY STUDENTS: A PERSON-CENTERED ANALYSIS OF BARRIER PATTERNS

Abstract

This study explored latent profiles of counselling resistance among Nigerian tertiary students, focusing on a person-centered analysis of barrier patterns. The study involved 2,410 students in tertiary institutions from universities, polytechnics, colleges of education from various parts of Nigeria. Participants were aged 16 years and over with a majority of those aged 21-25 years (43.7%) then 16-20 years (29.1%), 31 years and above (18.2%) and 26-30 years (9.0%). The predominance of female (64.1%) was found in the sample. Students were spread across academic levels with the largest percentage in 200 Level (28.4%). Findings revealed four distinct latent profiles of low counselling service patronage as identified among the participants. The latent classes are: self-management oriented (31.9%), help-seeking positive (26.2%), strongly help-seeking averse (25.0%), and stigma-avoidant (16.9%). Results revealed that self-management subgroup of help-seekers are the highest. Also, counselling resistance was multidimensional, and driven by autonomy preferences, stigma concerns, and combined barriers. It was found that latent class membership significantly predicted overall counselling barrier burden, with a moderate effect size. The strongly help-seeking averse group reported the highest barrier burden, while the help-seeking positive group reported the lowest.

Keywords: latent profiles, counselling service resistance, help-seeking positive, self-management, oriented, stigma‑avoidant, strongly help-seeking averse

Ethics and Conflict of Interest

Full ethical approval for the research was obtained from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria, Health Research Ethical Committee which is a registered committee with registration number: NHREC/12/06/2013. The Health Committee’s assigned certificate number for this research is 221/25. Ethical procedures were run according to guidelines provided by the Faculty Research Committee. The study followed ethical principles of research involving humans as adopted by the APA. Participants gave informed consent to participate by electronic means before the study. No identifying information was gathered, in order to guarantee anonymity. Data was stored securely and was only accessed by the research team. Participants were told that they could withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. Given the counselling related nature of the study, participants were encouraged to contact institutional counselling services if completion of the survey raised any psychological issues. Ethical approved was obtained for the study and consent was sought from all students who participated. The authors reported no conflicts of interest.

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