Effects of Online Psychological Counselling on Stress and Salivary Cortisol Levels in University Students
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Abstract
This study aimed to compare the effects of individual psychological counseling before, during, and after receiving online counseling, face-to-face counseling, and receiving self-guided stress management through online media, on stress and salivary cortisol levels among university students. The study was quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with repeated measurements. Seventy-five undergraduate students were selected using purposive sampling. Participants were assigned to three equal groups of 25 each, with comparable stress score across the groups. The ON group received eight sessions of individual online psychological counseling, the FF group received eight sessions of individual face-to-face psychological counseling, and the ED group received eight psychoeducational video clips on self-guided stress management. Stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale, and cortisol levels were measured using the Salimetrics test kit. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and t-test to compare stress levels. Non-parametric statistics were used to compare salivary cortisol levels. The results showed that, compared to before receiving counseling or knowledge, all groups showed a statistically significant reduction in stress after the intervention. When comparing between groups during and after the counseling period, there was no significant difference in stress between the ON group and the FF group. After the intervention, the ON group had significantly lower stress than the ED group. For salivary cortisol levels, compared to before receiving counseling or knowledge, there was no significant differences among the groups after the intervention. However, during the counseling period, the ON group showed a statistically significant reduction in salivary cortisol levels compared to the baseline.
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หากผู้เสนอบทความมีความจำเป็นเร่งด่วนในการตีพิมพ์โปรดส่งลงตีพิมพ์ในวารสารฉบับอื่นแทน โดยกองบรรณาธิการจะไม่รับบทความหากผู้เสนอบทความไม่ปฏิบัติตามเงื่อนไขและขั้นตอนที่กำหนดอย่างเคร่งครัด ข้อมูลของเนื้อหาในบทความถือเป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของ Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Education คณะศึกษาศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่
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