Adoption Of Online Psycho-educational Interventions In Tackling Depression Among Students In Private Universities In Meru County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the adoption of online psycho-educational interventions in tackling depression among students in private universities in Meru County, Kenya. The objectives were to assess the prevalence of depression in the adoption of online psycho-educational interventions, to investigate the availability and usage of online psycho-educational services in the management of depression disorders. Moreover, the study aimed at determining the students’ and counsellors’ perceptions on the adoption of online psycho-educational interventions, and lastly to assess the challenges facing current psycho-educational practices in tackling depression among students in private universities within Meru County. The study was guided by the person-centered theory developed by Karl Rogers, which constituted its theoretical framework. The target population comprised of undergraduate students, who had taken part in a mental wellbeing workshop, and mental health professionals drawn from private universities in Meru County, including KeMU and MKU. The study featured a sample size of 120 students that were randomly selected whilst 20 mental health providers were purposively selected. The validity of the questionnaires was determined through a pilot study prior to the actual study and items adjusted to address this study’s objectives. The researcher used a descriptive survey design with a mixed methodology in the study, where the quasi structured questionnaires were filled by 82 students and 8 mental health providers; a return rate of 64.3%. The researcher used various descriptive statistics to analyze quantitative data whereas content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Thematic analysis was used to identify major themes from the qualitative data and compared to the quantitative results to establish the study findings. The study results showed that private universities had a high prevalence of depression, which was indicated with 87.8% of the sampled student group positing a high likelihood of suffering from depression. Despite the high prevalence of depression, the usage of psych educational practices was low with only 29.2% of the students had ever sought mental health services and only 9% had ever used online approaches to address depression incidence. Nevertheless, the study established that both respondent groups had positive perceptions towards online psycho educational practices (83%). In addition, the study found that challenges related to stigma, perceived criticism, and limited mental health literacy largely impeded conventional psycho educational interventions, which warranted the need for online psycho educational practices to manage and prevent depression and related comorbidities among students. The study recommends adoption of online psycho-educational practices to address the rising prevalence of depression among private university students in Meru County, Kenya. Potential ethical issues were addressed by requiring participants to consent on taking part in the study and all study data was stored in an encrypted drive and kept in a safety box by the researcher. The research recommended future studies to assess the effectiveness of psychoeducational servicesin prevention and management of depression disorders among students. The findings benefits students due to convenient and easy access of mental health services from providers. Besides, providers will benefit due to streamlined and efficient system to offer therapeutic services