by Alisha Mann, MPsy
This series was originally completed as a Major Research Project in partial fulfillment of Adler Graduate Professional School’s Master of Psychology degree.
Limitations
If this research were done in a different country, such as an Eastern country, the results might be different. Although these changes may be relatable to other cultures and religious groups, this study looked at only South Asian individuals who were above the age of 18 and were raised in a Western society. Therefore this study is not generalizable beyond that group. The ability to speak English proficiently (Constantine et al., 2004) may also have affected the awareness and influenced the decision to seek counselling.
Also, as all participants had been educated in a Western society/culture, they were more able to understand and become aware of the Westernized notions of symptoms and resources. Future research may want to compare these results to those of immigrant populations or immigrant students.
As this research shows, none of the changes in awareness were independent of each other. They appear to be a triad of changes, in that if all three occur, an individual may be more likely to seek and participate in counselling. Through the participants’ experiences, this paper showed some of the underlying processes and barriers affecting the triad of changes that have allowed these participants to actively seek counselling services. Further research is required to build upon these findings.
