THE MEDIATION ROLE OF INTENTION IN COUNSELING UTILIZATION BEHAVIOR AMONG UNDERGRADUATES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51200/sapj.v14i1.7942Keywords:
Intention To Seek Counseling, Attitude, Working AllianceAbstract
This study aimed to examine the mediation role of intention to seek counseling in the relationship between attitude and working alliance among Malaysian undergraduates attending counseling. A total of 298 Malaysian undergraduates who have attended at least one session of counseling were surveyed through two methods from Google Form sent via WhatsApp or paper and pencil method using the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Short Form (ATSPPH-SF), Intention to Seek Counseling Inventory (ISCI) and Working Alliance Inventory-Short Revised (WAI-SR). The PLS-SEM program was used to determine the effect of mediation in the path analysis. Mediation analysis resulted in a significant indirect effect from attitudes to working alliance (ß = 0.058, t = 2.483, p = 0.013; p < 0.05) with neither confidence interval contained zero [0.019, 0.097]. Additionally, the direct effect result between attitude and working alliance was significantly positive (ß = 0.213, t = 3.651, p = 0.00; p < 0.5) but weak compared to total effect (both direct effect and indirect effect combined) of mediation is greater at ß = .027. The results revealed a complementary mediation effect of intention to seek counseling between attitude and working alliance and the relevance of explaining the mediation effect of intention in counseling usage. Higher positive attitude was associated with a stronger therapeutic working alliance through greater intention to seek counseling. The study confirmed the mediation role of intention as the central construct that is considered the most proximal determinant in behavior prediction.
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