Ruba Alajlan

Department

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Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Date of Award

4-2016

Format

.pdf

Degree Level

Ph.D

LCSH subject

Mental health services--Saudi Arabians--Attitudes.

ISBN

9781339695457

Medium

Electronic dissertation

Proquest Document ID

1790821751

Identifier

EDT42016Alajlan

Description

Includes vita, Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-158).

School/University

St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Texas). Department of Counseling.

Size or duration

iv, 185 pages

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Montilla, R. Esteban

Second Advisor

Wooten, H. Ray

Third Advisor

Atif, Said

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the psychological attitudes of Saudi Arabian international students toward mental health services. One of the problems that prompted this research is the scarcity of scientific literature on this issue. This research used a mixed-method study convergent design with a convenience sampling of 162 for quantitative section and 35 for the qualitative. The main validated instrument used was the Beliefs About Psychological Services Scale (BAPS) along with a demography survey and some qualitative open-ended questions. The researcher found that licensed psychologists and professional counselors had the highest statistical representation of relationship with intent. In terms of the stigma factor, male participants were more likely to feel stigmatized by counseling than female participants. Females had a higher tolerance score than men. Additionally, the researcher found that most participants for qualitative part on this research described their counseling or psychotherapy experience as positive and expressed being enthusiastic about seeking mental health services. The main factors for pursuing counseling included were personal growth and development, family issues, stress management, crisis management and suicidal ideations. The barriers to counseling reported by responders were the counselor’s cultural insensitivity, discrimination, suspicions and fear of being incriminated for being from the Middle East.

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