| dc.description.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 | en_US |
