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Utilization of E-Counseling in Career Information Dissemination Among Undergraduates of Federal Universities in South East Nigeria:

Utilization of E-Counseling in Career Information Dissemination Among Undergraduates of Federal... This descriptive survey study was designed to find out the utilization of e-counseling in career information dissemination among the undergraduates of the federal universities in South East Nigeria. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 36 guidance counselors and 64,997 undergraduates of the federal universities in South East Nigeria. The sample consisted of 1,036 participants. This is made up of all the 36 guidance counselors in the federal universities in South East Nigeria, and 1,000 undergraduates randomly selected from the various universities. In each university, 200 undergraduates made up of 100 males and 100 females were randomly selected using balloting by replacement. All the guidance counselors were used due to smallness in number. The instrument for data collection was the E-Counselling Career Information Dissemination Questionnaire (E-CCIDQ). The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach’s alpha statistical analysis, and reliability indices of .91, .85, and .84 were obtained for the three clusters. Data for the research questions were answered using percentage, mean, and standard deviation, while the null hypotheses were analyzed using t test statistics tested at the .05 level of significance. The research findings revealed that the universities in South East of Nigeria have e-counseling facilities and the students are very aware of e-counseling opportunities in the universities. Also, the counselors and undergraduates to a high extent utilize e-counseling in career information dissemination. Based on findings, discussions and some recommendations were made. Keywords utilization, e-counseling, career information, dissemination, undergraduates, universities approach called e-counseling or online counseling Introduction (Ehrenfeld, 2006; Grohol, 2011; Kanini & Regehr, 2003). One of the most dramatic advancements in this 21st century E-counseling is one of the counseling opportunities intro- is the utilization of information, communication technology duced in the recent decades for delivering psychotherapeutic (ICT). This technology has offered opportunities in commu- services. It is defined as therapeutic service delivered by a nication, among which is e-counseling, which enables coun- helping professional with electronic devices such as the selors to provide supportive online counseling opportunities Internet and audio media. It can exist in real life situations through a live webcam session, Internet chatting, messaging, such as in the use of skype, phone conversation, chatting Internet conferencing, emailing, and telephoning. Ani (2006) online, and e-messaging (Suler, 2000). Literature reveals the notes that the use of ICT has revolutionized access to infor- mation of the business world. In advanced nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, it has been experimentally found that the use of computer to com- University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu plement the effort of human labor has brought about Corresponding Author: improved performance. In counseling, this shifted drastically Joachim Chinweike Omeje, Department of Educational Foundations, from the conventional face-to-face counseling relationship University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nsukka, Enugu 410001, Nigeria. approach to a more dynamic, flexible, and more convenient Email: joachimomeje@yahoo.co.uk Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open use of e-counseling in case studies and specific e-counseling Furthermore, those individuals who are ambivalent program (Fink & Schoech, 2008). about counseling or who may be uncomfortable with the Most communications through the Internet are in written traditional models of therapy tend to find e-counseling form. Therefore, e-counseling, in which the mode of com- more convenient, comfortable, and suitable than the con- munication is often through writings via emails or a chat ventional face-to-face counseling communication. This is room, allows both the client and the therapist opportunity to because of its unlimited access to information and per- pay close attention to their communication and reflect on ceived privacy for clients such as those suffering from their thoughts and feelings prior to their being expressed. social phobia, agora phobias, or anxiety disorders (Gedge, This probably may be a particularly suitable way of commu- 2009; Gwinnell, 2003). It also ensures ethical and legal nicating and expressing of oneself through words. Clients protection of the counselor and his client (Cherry, 2014, may also be able to communicate better in this environment Mallen & Vogel, 2005). No wonder, Kraus et al. (2008) as they are not affected by the therapist’s non-verbal cues notes that the advantages of e-counseling is making it to be (Haberstroth, Duffey, Evans, Gee, & Trepal, 2007). widely acceptable in the counseling field. Nigeria is fast growing into a computerized nation in recent It is important to note that although e-counseling has been years. This is seen in the rate at which students and counselors considered effective in counseling profession, it has also embark on utilization of e-counseling. This trend invariably been criticized in terms of non-observation of verbal and makes Nigeria an Internet-oriented society, particularly in the non-verbal cues, from both counselor and client, difficulties federal universities in South East Nigeria. Although, the in maintaining clients’ confidentiality, and security. Other majority of students and counselors utilize face-to-face coun- criticisms include its overall effectiveness, technological dif- seling, a good number of others utilize e-counseling. Those ficulties, and its limits of being able to guarantee the coun- who utilize e-counseling sometimes tend more pressing prob- selor’s credibility (Elleven & Allen, 2004). Based on these, lems, needs, and aspirations in their academic pursuits when the researchers are concerned with determining the extent of compared with their counterparts who utilize face-to-face utilization of e-counseling in career information dissemina- counseling (Kraus, Hen, Boniel-Nissim, & Shapira, 2008). tion among undergraduates of the federal universities in However, insufficient availability of e-counseling facilities South East Nigeria. such as computer system, cellular phone, CD-ROM, Internet Career information refers to any type of fact about jobs, connection, web browser, flash drive, virus scanner, backup, business, occupation, profession, trade, or work obtained for scanner, Internet telephony, diskette, graphic editor, white- use in career planning to earn a living. It is a valid and useful board, and Java might tend to hinder effective utilization of information given to an individual to enable him become e-counseling in Nigerian universities just as it is with e-learn- purposeful and effective in his career-oriented profession ing. This assertion would be determined in this study. Other (Omeje, 2010). Consequently, the aim of career information hindering factors include irregular supply of electricity, inad- is to help individuals to understand themselves and the world equate procurement of ICT facilities, and poor maintenance of of work better so as to function effectively in and outside it these facilities (Chiaha, Eze, & Ezeudu, 2013). No wonder (Iwuama, 1999). In other words, it helps individuals imbibe Febbets (1999) remarked that Nigeria needed to up-grade its to strategies for proper choice and management of careers so ICT facilities and terminals if she must compete effectively in that they can have a very sound career development. this fast evolving ICT era. Although the imperatives of e-counseling calls for its uti- Nevertheless, despite the limitations of these hindering lization in dissemination of career information to undergrad- factors, e-counseling utilization tends to become an impor- uates in the universities, the researchers are uncertain about tant source of communication for therapy to a growing num- the extent of its utilization in dissemination of career infor- ber of consumers among who are students in Nigerian mation among university undergraduates in South East universities. It offers mental health professional, which is Nigeria. Hence, the researchers are poised to ask the follow- another way of providing services to their clients (Cherry, ing: Do counselors utilize e-counseling in dissemination of 2014). One of the characteristics or good aspects of e-coun- career information to undergraduates in the universities? If seling is its convenience. Both the counselor and the client they do, to what extent is this obtained? It is in view of these have the convenience of corresponding with each other at a concerns that the study is being carried out. range of variant times (Khasanshina, Wolf, Emerson, & Stachura, 2008), thus, taking away the hassle of scheduling Research Questions and setting appointments, which characterize the conven- tional face-to-face counseling practice. In addition, e-coun- In line with the above, these research questions were posed seling creates an opportunity for the therapists to extend their to guide the study. services to more clients, as appointments can be potentially scheduled over 24 hr and can reach a larger geographical Research Question 1: What are the e-counseling facili- region through synchronous and asynchronous e-counseling ties available for career information dissemination in the opportunities (Mallen & Vogel, 2005). federal universities in South East Nigeria? Omeje et al. 3 Research Question 2: What are the students’ awareness elicit bio-data information of the respondents while Section B levels of e-counseling opportunities for career informa- contains 34 items put into three clusters. Cluster 1 elicits infor- tion dissemination? mation on various e-counseling facilities available for dissem- Research Question 3: What is the extent of utilization of ination of career information in universities. The items were e-counseling in career information dissemination by the placed on two-point rating scales of available (AV) and not counselors and undergraduate students? available (NA), which were weighted 1 and 0. Cluster 2 focuses on students’ awareness level of e-counseling opportu- nities for career information dissemination, while Cluster 3 Hypotheses elicits information on extent of utilization of e-counseling in The following null hypotheses postulated were tested at the career information dissemination. The items in Clusters 2 and .05 level of significance. 3 were placed on a four-point rating scale of very aware (VA), moderately aware (MA), rarely aware (RA), and not aware Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between (NA) for Cluster 2; and very high extent (VHE), high extent the mean scores of undergraduates and counselors on (HE), low extent (LE), very low extent (VLE) for Cluster 3. availability of e-counseling facilities for dissemination of They have assigned weight of 4, 3, 2, and 1 points, respec- career information. tively. Clusters 1, 2, and 3 were completed by the undergradu- Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between ate students, while the guidance counselors completed only mean scores of male and female undergraduates on aware- Clusters 1 and 3. ness level of e-counseling opportunities for career infor- The reliability of the instrument was established using mation dissemination. Cronbach’s alpha analysis to ascertain the internal consis- Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference between tency of the items and reliability. The analysis of data gave the mean scores of undergraduates and counselors on alpha coefficient values of .91, .85, and .84 for the three extent of utilization of e-counseling in dissemination of respective clusters. career information. The data collected from the study were analyzed using frequency, percentage, and mean to answer the research questions generated for the study. A criterion mean score of Method 2.50, which is the average of the weighted responses per item The study was carried in the federal universities in South East was used as decision rule for agreement or disagreement of Nigeria. South East Nigeria has five states, namely, Enugu, an item. As the items of the questionnaire were positively Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, and Anambra states. The federal universi- framed, any score from 2.50 to 4.0 was an indication of ties in South East Nigeria are University of Nigeria, Nsukka agreement with the item of the questionnaire, while below (UNN); Federal University of Science and Technology 2.50 was an indication of disagreement. Owerri (FUTO), Michael Okpara Federal University of Agriculture Umudike, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Results and the Federal University Ndufu-Aike Ikwo. The population of the study comprised all the 65,033 uni- Research Question 1: What are the e-counseling facili- versity guidance counselors and undergraduates in the five ties available for the career information dissemination in federal universities, South East of Nigeria. This is made up the federal universities in South East Nigeria? of 36 guidance counselors (12 males and 24 females) and 64,997 undergraduates (38,251 males and 26,746 females; Table 1 shows the percentage ratings of counselors and source: academic planning unit of various federal universi- undergraduates on the availability of e-counseling facilities ties in South East Nigeria for the 2013/2014 academic ses- for career information dissemination in the federal universi- sion). The sample of this study was 1,036 participants made ties in South East Nigeria. The analysis reveals that the per- up of all the 36 guidance counselors and 1,000 undergradu- centage ratings of both counselors and the undergraduates on ates selected randomly through balloting by replacement. In the availability of Items 1 to 15 are more than 50 percent- each of the federal university, 200 undergraduates made up ages. This, by implication, shows that all the 15 items are of 100 males and 100 females were randomly selected from available e-counseling facilities for career information dis- the final year students in the faculties of education, agricul- semination in the federal universities in South East Nigeria. ture, and social sciences, while all the guidance counselors in the whole federal universities were used for the study due to Research Question 2: What are the students’ awareness the smallness of their number. levels of e-counseling opportunities for career informa- The instrument that was used for data collection tion dissemination? was the E-Counselling Career Information Dissemination Questionnaire (E-CCIDQ) designed by the researchers. This Data analysis in Table 2 shows the mean and standard instrument has two sections, A and B. Section A is designed to deviations of the awareness level of male and female 4 SAGE Open Table 1. Percentage Analysis of the Ratings of the Counselors and Undergraduates on Availability of E-Counseling Facilities. Counselors (n = 36) Undergraduates (n = 1,000) E-counseling facilities % A % NA Decision % A % NA Decision 1. Computer system 100.00 00.00 AV 99.00 1.00 AV 2. Cellular phone 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 3. CD-ROM 100.00 00.00 AV 97.00 3.00 AV 4. Internet connection 100.00 00.00 AV 99.00 1.00 AV 5. Web browser 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 6. Flash drive 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 7. Virus scanner 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 8. Backup 97.20 2.80 AV 96.00 4.00 AV 9. Scanner 97.20 2.80 AV 93.00 7.00 AV 10. Internet telephony 91.70 8.30 AV 93.00 7.00 AV 11. Diskette 91.70 8.30 AV 92.00 8.00 AV 12. Flash drive 97.20 2.80 AV 87.00 13.00 AV 13. Graphic editor 91.70 8.30 AV 83.00 17.00 AV 14. Whiteboard 97.80 22.20 AV 81.00 19.00 AV 15. Java 69.40 30.60 AV 75.00 25.00 AV Note. AV = Available; A = Available; NA = Not available. undergraduates on e-counseling opportunities for career undergraduates to a high extent utilize those e-counseling in information dissemination. The data analysis result shows career information dissemination. Similarly, the overall that the mean ratings of both male and female undergradu- mean ratings of 3.31 and 3.49, for the counselors and the ates to Items 1, 2, and 3 are within the range of 3.50 to 4.00, undergraduates, respectively, imply that both to a high extent indicating that undergraduates in the federal universities in utilize e-counseling in career information dissemination. The South East Nigeria are very aware of those e-counseling overall standard deviation scores (counselors = 0.28 and opportunities. The mean ratings of both male and female undergraduates = 0.52) indicate that the two categories of undergraduates to Items 4, 5, and 7 are within the range of respondents vary much in their ratings of extent of utilization 2.50 to 3.49 indicating that undergraduates in the federal of e-counseling in career information dissemination. universities in South East Nigeria are moderately aware of those e-counseling opportunities. However, the overall Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between mean score ratings of 3.54 and 3.56 for male and female the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the counselors undergraduates, respectively, imply that the students are on the availability of e-counseling facilities for dissemi- very aware of the e-counseling opportunities. Besides, the nation of career information. overall standard deviations of 0.57 and 0.45 for the male and the female indicate that the ratings of the undergraduates did Table 4 shows that the calculated chi-square value of 1.72 not vary much. has a probability value of .63. Because the probability value of .63 is greater than the .05 level of significance, the null Research Question 3: What is the extent of utilization of hypothesis is accepted. Thus, there is no significant differ- e-counseling in career information dissemination among ence between the ratings of undergraduates and counselors counselors and undergraduates? on the availability of e-counseling facilities for dissemina- tion of career information. Table 3 shows the mean and standard deviation of the rat- ings of counselors and undergraduates on the extent of utili- Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between zation of e-counseling in career information dissemination mean ratings of the male and the female undergraduates among the undergraduates. The analysis shows that the mean on awareness level of e-counseling opportunities for ratings of both counselors and undergraduates to Items 1, 2, career information dissemination. 4, 5, 8, and 12 are within the range of 3.50 to 4.00, implying that both the counselors and the undergraduates to a very Table 5 shows that the probability associated with the cal- high extent utilize those e-counseling in career information culated value of t(–.338) is .74. Because the probability value dissemination. Also, the mean ratings of both the counselors of .74 is greater than .05 level of significance, the null and the undergraduates to Items 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 are within hypothesis is accepted meaning that there is no significant the range of 2.50 to 3.49 implying that both counselors and difference between mean ratings of male and female Omeje et al. 5 Table 2. Mean and Standard Deviations of the Awareness Level of Male and Female Undergraduates on E-Counseling Opportunities for Career Information Dissemination. Male (n = 500) Female (n = 500) Item statement M SD Decision M SD Decision 1. Using classroom forums in career information 3.88 0.38 VA 3.80 0.66 VA 2. Using messaging via Internet connectivity to 3.70 0.60 VA 3.68 0.76 VA disseminate career information 3. Using synchronous e-counseling approach 3.56 0.80 VA 3.52 0.83 VA 4. Using synchronous e-counseling approach 3.24 0.75 MA 3.46 0.87 MA 5. E-Counseling through film modeling of various types 3.46 0.94 MA 3.40 0.80 MA of occupation 6. Using psychometric test instruments stored in CD- 3.42 0.85 MA 3.28 0.69 MA ROM in appraising students’ career choice 7. Using what Sapp in e-counseling to guide people in 3.46 0.69 MA 3.84 0.50 MA making career choice Cluster mean 3.54 0.57 3.56 0.45 VA Note. X = the Mean; = 3.50-4.00 = very aware (VA); = 2.50-3.49 = moderately aware (MA). X X Table 3. Mean and Standard Deviations of Ratings of Counselors and Undergraduates on the Extent of Utilization of E-Counseling in Career Information Dissemination. Counselors Undergraduates (n = 36) (n = 1,000) Item statement M SD Rmk M SD Rmk 1. Sourcing career information via Internet 3.91 0.28 VHE 3.83 0.49 VHE 2. Using Facebook to disseminate career information 3.50 0.60 VHE 3.72 0.60 VHE 3. Sourcing career information via email 2.80 0.88 HE 3.54 0.76 VHE 4. Using mobile phones to extend career information 3.88 0.31 VHE 3.74 0.62 VHE 5. Utilizing computer to share career information 3.75 0.50 VHE 3.79 0.57 HE 6. Using Gmail to disseminate career information 2.72 0.74 HE 3.18 0.97 HE 7. Using BBM to disseminate career information 2.97 0.81 HE 3.39 0.88 HE 8. Sourcing career information through Google search 3.72 0.65 VHE 3.58 0.71 VHE 9. Using Twitter to share career information 2.94 0.67 HE 3.17 0.87 VHE 10. Using 2go to disseminate career information 2.80 0.70 HE 3.15 0.61 HE 11. Making use of Palmchat to extend career information 2.94 0.92 HE 3.20 0.84 HE 12. Using WhatsApp in messaging to source career information 3.86 0.42 VHE 3.69 0.73 VHE Cluster mean 3.31 0.28 HE 3.49 0.52 HE Note. X = the Mean; = 3.50-4.00 = very high extent (VHE); 2.50-3.49 = high extent (HE). BBM = Black Berry Messenger; Rmk = Remarks. undergraduates on awareness level of e-counseling opportu- counselors on the extent of utilization of e-counseling in dis- nities for career information dissemination. semination of career information with the mean ratings of the undergraduates being higher than that of the counselors. This Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference between implies that the undergraduates utilize e-counseling in dis- the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the counselors seminating of career information more than the counselors. on the extent of utilization of e-counseling in dissemina- tion of career information. Discussion Table 6 shows that the calculated value of t(–2.040) has The e-counseling facilities are available for career informa- an associated probability value of .04. Because the probabil- tion dissemination in the federal universities in South East ity value of .04 is less than .05 level of significance, the null Nigeria. hypothesis is rejected. Thus, there is a significant difference The results displayed in Table 1 reveal the percentage of between the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the the ratings of the counselors and the undergraduates on the 6 SAGE Open Table 4. Chi-Square Analysis of the Ratings of Undergraduate It further affirms the Research Question 1 analyses on the and Counselors on the Availability of E-Counseling Facilities for availability of e-counseling facilities among the undergradu- Dissemination of Career Information. ates in the universities. This finding is interesting as it tends to show that both the counselors and the undergraduates can Asymp. sig. identify ICT facilities and their uses. Implicitly, with the avail- Value df (two-sided) abilities of the ICT facilities, e-counseling would be functional Pearson chi-square 1.716 3 .633 in the universities South East of Nigeria. Consequently, in line Likelihood ratio 2.340 3 .505 with Ani (2006), the availabilities of these facilities would Linear-by-linear association 1.688 1 .194 enhance dissemination of career information through N of valid cases 1,036 e-counseling. Two cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .35. Students’ Awareness Level of E-Counseling Opportunities for Career Information Table 5. t-Test Analysis of Ratings of Male and Female Dissemination Undergraduates on Their Awareness Level of E-Counseling The result of data analysis with respect to the undergraduates Opportunities. awareness level of e-counseling opportunities for career Sig. information dissemination presented in Table 2 indicates that Undergraduates n M SD df t cal (two-tailed) the male and the female students are very aware of e-cous- nelling opportunities for dissemination of career information Male 500 3.49 0.59 998 −.338 .735 (male overall = 3.54, SD = 0.57; female overall = Female 500 3.50 0.43 X X 3.56, SD = 0.45). A global look at the analysis shows that the male and the female undergraduates are very aware of the use of e-counseling opportunities such as classroom forum, Table 6. t-Test Analysis of Ratings of Undergraduates and e-messaging and chatting, and synchronous and asynchro- Counselors on the Extent Utilization of E-Counseling in nous e-counseling in dissemination of career information. Dissemination of Career Information. However, the male and the female students’ awareness of the Sig. use of film modeling, psychometric test instruments stored in Status n M SD df t cal (two-tailed) CD-ROM, and WhatsApp opportunities in career informa- Counselors 36 3.31 0.28 1034 −2.040 .042 tion dissemination is of a moderate level. The fact that the Undergraduates 1,000 3.49 0.52 undergraduates are aware of these e-counseling opportuni- ties for dissemination of career information is interesting. It also shows that Nigerian undergraduates are not ignorant of these e-counseling opportunities but rather they have com- availability of e-counseling facilities for career information plaints with the existing e-counseling opportunities available dissemination in the federal universities in South East Nigeria. for use in this fast evolving ICT era (Febbets, 1999). The analysis reveals that the percentage ratings of both the The data analysis result in Table 5 reveals that there is no counselors and the undergraduates on the availability of Items significant difference between the male and the female stu- 1 to 15, which are computer, cellular phone, CD-ROM, dents’ awareness level of e-counseling opportunities for Internet connection, web browser, flash drive, virus scanner, career information dissemination (t cal = 0.33, sig [2-tailed] backup devices Internet telephony, diskette, graphic editor, = .74 df = 998, p = .05). This finding is interesting. That the whiteboard, and Java are more than 50%. This, by implication male and the female undergraduates did not differ in their shows that all the items are the available e-counseling facili- awareness level of the e-counseling opportunities for dis- ties for career information dissemination in the federal uni- semination of career information indicates that they are versities in South East Nigeria and that these e-counseling ICT compliant gender. This finding corroborates with facilities are familiar to the counselors and the undergradu- Khasanshina et al. (2008) that most students limited by the ates. This finding is in agreement with the early study of conventional face-to-face counseling resort now to e-coun- Febbets (1999), which notes that we live in a fast-changing seling, which is a more convenient and faster means of com- world, and if Nigerians must not be left behind, there is need municating with a counselor. to up-grade terminals to microcomputer, maintain them to keep pace with the technological development, which not only has significant impact on the information industry but The Extent of Utilization of E-Counseling in also is an important factor in information planning. Career Information Dissemination Among the Indeed, the result of Null Hypothesis 1 shows that there is Undergraduates no significant difference between the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the counselors on the availability of Result of data analysis on the extent of utilization of e- e-counseling facilities for dissemination of career information. counseling in dissemination of career information by Omeje et al. 7 counselors and undergraduate students presented in Table 3 counselors tends to suggest that e-counseling facilities shows that both groups of respondents utilize e-counseling are inadequate for use by the students and the counsel- in dissemination of career information to a high extent ors. Consequently, counselors should be provided with (counselors: overall = 3.31; undergraduates: overall more and stable facilities to enhance more opportuni- X X = 3.49). The result further reveals that in e-counseling, both ties for e-counseling with the undergraduates. the counselors and the undergraduates source and dissemi- 3. Counselors should be provided with opportunities to nate career information via mobile phones, Facebook, email, attend workshops and conferences where they will be and Google search. Others include using Twitter, Palmchats, exposed to more novel opportunities available in WhatsApp, and Black Berry Messenger (BBM). That both e-counseling utilization. With such exposure, they the counselors and the undergraduate students utilize would be more knowledgeable and skilled in their e-counseling to a high extent in disseminating career infor- usage in e-counseling opportunities. mation is encouraging. This finding tends to be in conso- nance with Ehrenfeld’s (2006) and Grohol’s (2011) research Declaration of Conflicting Interests findings that e-counseling is drastically overtaking the con- The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect ventional face-to-face counseling due to its more flexible, to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. convenient, and accessibility qualities. This study, in addition, reveals through the hypothesis Funding testing result in Table 6, that a significant difference exists The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or between the extent of utilization of e-counseling in career authorship of this article. information dissemination by the counselors and the under- graduate respondents, with the undergraduates being higher References in the utilization than the counselors (counselors: = 3.31; undergraduates: = 3.49; t cal = –2.04, sig [2-tailed] = Ani, S. (2006, January 17). 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V., Wolf, W. L., Emerson, E. N., & Stachura, M. Joachim Chinweike Omeje, PhD, is an Associate Professor of E. (2008). Counselling Center-based, tele-mental health for Guidance and Counselling from the University of Nigeria Nsukka . students at a rural university. Telemedicine and e-Health, 14, He teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in coun- 35-40. selling and contributes think pieces to several academic journals. Kraus, R., Hen, L., Boniel-Nissim, M., & Shapira, N. (2008). A His research interest spans a wide range of education, sexuality, comprehensive review and a meta-analysis of the effectiveness gender, family, information and adolesence. of internet-based psychotherapeutic interventions. Journal of Justina Ukamaka Eze, PhD, is senior lecturer in the department of Technology in Human services, 26, 109-160. Educational Foundations Guidance and Counselling unit of the Mallen, M. J., & Vogel, D. L. (2005, November). Online counsel- University of Nigeria Nsukka. She has engaged in many consul- ling reviewing the literature from a counselling psychology tancy positions as well teaches both undergraduate and postgradu- framework. The Counselling Psychologist, 33, 819-871. ate courses in Guidance and Counselling. Her research interest Omeje, J. C. (2010). Educational and occupational information in spans across education, gender, family and cultural issues. counselling: A fundamental approach. ISBN-978-978-48102- 3-4. Nsukka: Chuka Educational Publishers. Doris Chika Egeonu, PhD, is a student in the department of Suler, J. (2000). Psychotherapy in Cyberspace: A 5 dimensional Educational Foundations Guidance and Counselling unit of the model of online and computer mediated psychotherapy. University of Nigeria Nsukka . She engages in research activities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

Utilization of E-Counseling in Career Information Dissemination Among Undergraduates of Federal Universities in South East Nigeria:

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Abstract

This descriptive survey study was designed to find out the utilization of e-counseling in career information dissemination among the undergraduates of the federal universities in South East Nigeria. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 36 guidance counselors and 64,997 undergraduates of the federal universities in South East Nigeria. The sample consisted of 1,036 participants. This is made up of all the 36 guidance counselors in the federal universities in South East Nigeria, and 1,000 undergraduates randomly selected from the various universities. In each university, 200 undergraduates made up of 100 males and 100 females were randomly selected using balloting by replacement. All the guidance counselors were used due to smallness in number. The instrument for data collection was the E-Counselling Career Information Dissemination Questionnaire (E-CCIDQ). The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach’s alpha statistical analysis, and reliability indices of .91, .85, and .84 were obtained for the three clusters. Data for the research questions were answered using percentage, mean, and standard deviation, while the null hypotheses were analyzed using t test statistics tested at the .05 level of significance. The research findings revealed that the universities in South East of Nigeria have e-counseling facilities and the students are very aware of e-counseling opportunities in the universities. Also, the counselors and undergraduates to a high extent utilize e-counseling in career information dissemination. Based on findings, discussions and some recommendations were made. Keywords utilization, e-counseling, career information, dissemination, undergraduates, universities approach called e-counseling or online counseling Introduction (Ehrenfeld, 2006; Grohol, 2011; Kanini & Regehr, 2003). One of the most dramatic advancements in this 21st century E-counseling is one of the counseling opportunities intro- is the utilization of information, communication technology duced in the recent decades for delivering psychotherapeutic (ICT). This technology has offered opportunities in commu- services. It is defined as therapeutic service delivered by a nication, among which is e-counseling, which enables coun- helping professional with electronic devices such as the selors to provide supportive online counseling opportunities Internet and audio media. It can exist in real life situations through a live webcam session, Internet chatting, messaging, such as in the use of skype, phone conversation, chatting Internet conferencing, emailing, and telephoning. Ani (2006) online, and e-messaging (Suler, 2000). Literature reveals the notes that the use of ICT has revolutionized access to infor- mation of the business world. In advanced nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, it has been experimentally found that the use of computer to com- University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu plement the effort of human labor has brought about Corresponding Author: improved performance. In counseling, this shifted drastically Joachim Chinweike Omeje, Department of Educational Foundations, from the conventional face-to-face counseling relationship University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nsukka, Enugu 410001, Nigeria. approach to a more dynamic, flexible, and more convenient Email: joachimomeje@yahoo.co.uk Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open use of e-counseling in case studies and specific e-counseling Furthermore, those individuals who are ambivalent program (Fink & Schoech, 2008). about counseling or who may be uncomfortable with the Most communications through the Internet are in written traditional models of therapy tend to find e-counseling form. Therefore, e-counseling, in which the mode of com- more convenient, comfortable, and suitable than the con- munication is often through writings via emails or a chat ventional face-to-face counseling communication. This is room, allows both the client and the therapist opportunity to because of its unlimited access to information and per- pay close attention to their communication and reflect on ceived privacy for clients such as those suffering from their thoughts and feelings prior to their being expressed. social phobia, agora phobias, or anxiety disorders (Gedge, This probably may be a particularly suitable way of commu- 2009; Gwinnell, 2003). It also ensures ethical and legal nicating and expressing of oneself through words. Clients protection of the counselor and his client (Cherry, 2014, may also be able to communicate better in this environment Mallen & Vogel, 2005). No wonder, Kraus et al. (2008) as they are not affected by the therapist’s non-verbal cues notes that the advantages of e-counseling is making it to be (Haberstroth, Duffey, Evans, Gee, & Trepal, 2007). widely acceptable in the counseling field. Nigeria is fast growing into a computerized nation in recent It is important to note that although e-counseling has been years. This is seen in the rate at which students and counselors considered effective in counseling profession, it has also embark on utilization of e-counseling. This trend invariably been criticized in terms of non-observation of verbal and makes Nigeria an Internet-oriented society, particularly in the non-verbal cues, from both counselor and client, difficulties federal universities in South East Nigeria. Although, the in maintaining clients’ confidentiality, and security. Other majority of students and counselors utilize face-to-face coun- criticisms include its overall effectiveness, technological dif- seling, a good number of others utilize e-counseling. Those ficulties, and its limits of being able to guarantee the coun- who utilize e-counseling sometimes tend more pressing prob- selor’s credibility (Elleven & Allen, 2004). Based on these, lems, needs, and aspirations in their academic pursuits when the researchers are concerned with determining the extent of compared with their counterparts who utilize face-to-face utilization of e-counseling in career information dissemina- counseling (Kraus, Hen, Boniel-Nissim, & Shapira, 2008). tion among undergraduates of the federal universities in However, insufficient availability of e-counseling facilities South East Nigeria. such as computer system, cellular phone, CD-ROM, Internet Career information refers to any type of fact about jobs, connection, web browser, flash drive, virus scanner, backup, business, occupation, profession, trade, or work obtained for scanner, Internet telephony, diskette, graphic editor, white- use in career planning to earn a living. It is a valid and useful board, and Java might tend to hinder effective utilization of information given to an individual to enable him become e-counseling in Nigerian universities just as it is with e-learn- purposeful and effective in his career-oriented profession ing. This assertion would be determined in this study. Other (Omeje, 2010). Consequently, the aim of career information hindering factors include irregular supply of electricity, inad- is to help individuals to understand themselves and the world equate procurement of ICT facilities, and poor maintenance of of work better so as to function effectively in and outside it these facilities (Chiaha, Eze, & Ezeudu, 2013). No wonder (Iwuama, 1999). In other words, it helps individuals imbibe Febbets (1999) remarked that Nigeria needed to up-grade its to strategies for proper choice and management of careers so ICT facilities and terminals if she must compete effectively in that they can have a very sound career development. this fast evolving ICT era. Although the imperatives of e-counseling calls for its uti- Nevertheless, despite the limitations of these hindering lization in dissemination of career information to undergrad- factors, e-counseling utilization tends to become an impor- uates in the universities, the researchers are uncertain about tant source of communication for therapy to a growing num- the extent of its utilization in dissemination of career infor- ber of consumers among who are students in Nigerian mation among university undergraduates in South East universities. It offers mental health professional, which is Nigeria. Hence, the researchers are poised to ask the follow- another way of providing services to their clients (Cherry, ing: Do counselors utilize e-counseling in dissemination of 2014). One of the characteristics or good aspects of e-coun- career information to undergraduates in the universities? If seling is its convenience. Both the counselor and the client they do, to what extent is this obtained? It is in view of these have the convenience of corresponding with each other at a concerns that the study is being carried out. range of variant times (Khasanshina, Wolf, Emerson, & Stachura, 2008), thus, taking away the hassle of scheduling Research Questions and setting appointments, which characterize the conven- tional face-to-face counseling practice. In addition, e-coun- In line with the above, these research questions were posed seling creates an opportunity for the therapists to extend their to guide the study. services to more clients, as appointments can be potentially scheduled over 24 hr and can reach a larger geographical Research Question 1: What are the e-counseling facili- region through synchronous and asynchronous e-counseling ties available for career information dissemination in the opportunities (Mallen & Vogel, 2005). federal universities in South East Nigeria? Omeje et al. 3 Research Question 2: What are the students’ awareness elicit bio-data information of the respondents while Section B levels of e-counseling opportunities for career informa- contains 34 items put into three clusters. Cluster 1 elicits infor- tion dissemination? mation on various e-counseling facilities available for dissem- Research Question 3: What is the extent of utilization of ination of career information in universities. The items were e-counseling in career information dissemination by the placed on two-point rating scales of available (AV) and not counselors and undergraduate students? available (NA), which were weighted 1 and 0. Cluster 2 focuses on students’ awareness level of e-counseling opportu- nities for career information dissemination, while Cluster 3 Hypotheses elicits information on extent of utilization of e-counseling in The following null hypotheses postulated were tested at the career information dissemination. The items in Clusters 2 and .05 level of significance. 3 were placed on a four-point rating scale of very aware (VA), moderately aware (MA), rarely aware (RA), and not aware Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between (NA) for Cluster 2; and very high extent (VHE), high extent the mean scores of undergraduates and counselors on (HE), low extent (LE), very low extent (VLE) for Cluster 3. availability of e-counseling facilities for dissemination of They have assigned weight of 4, 3, 2, and 1 points, respec- career information. tively. Clusters 1, 2, and 3 were completed by the undergradu- Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between ate students, while the guidance counselors completed only mean scores of male and female undergraduates on aware- Clusters 1 and 3. ness level of e-counseling opportunities for career infor- The reliability of the instrument was established using mation dissemination. Cronbach’s alpha analysis to ascertain the internal consis- Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference between tency of the items and reliability. The analysis of data gave the mean scores of undergraduates and counselors on alpha coefficient values of .91, .85, and .84 for the three extent of utilization of e-counseling in dissemination of respective clusters. career information. The data collected from the study were analyzed using frequency, percentage, and mean to answer the research questions generated for the study. A criterion mean score of Method 2.50, which is the average of the weighted responses per item The study was carried in the federal universities in South East was used as decision rule for agreement or disagreement of Nigeria. South East Nigeria has five states, namely, Enugu, an item. As the items of the questionnaire were positively Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, and Anambra states. The federal universi- framed, any score from 2.50 to 4.0 was an indication of ties in South East Nigeria are University of Nigeria, Nsukka agreement with the item of the questionnaire, while below (UNN); Federal University of Science and Technology 2.50 was an indication of disagreement. Owerri (FUTO), Michael Okpara Federal University of Agriculture Umudike, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Results and the Federal University Ndufu-Aike Ikwo. The population of the study comprised all the 65,033 uni- Research Question 1: What are the e-counseling facili- versity guidance counselors and undergraduates in the five ties available for the career information dissemination in federal universities, South East of Nigeria. This is made up the federal universities in South East Nigeria? of 36 guidance counselors (12 males and 24 females) and 64,997 undergraduates (38,251 males and 26,746 females; Table 1 shows the percentage ratings of counselors and source: academic planning unit of various federal universi- undergraduates on the availability of e-counseling facilities ties in South East Nigeria for the 2013/2014 academic ses- for career information dissemination in the federal universi- sion). The sample of this study was 1,036 participants made ties in South East Nigeria. The analysis reveals that the per- up of all the 36 guidance counselors and 1,000 undergradu- centage ratings of both counselors and the undergraduates on ates selected randomly through balloting by replacement. In the availability of Items 1 to 15 are more than 50 percent- each of the federal university, 200 undergraduates made up ages. This, by implication, shows that all the 15 items are of 100 males and 100 females were randomly selected from available e-counseling facilities for career information dis- the final year students in the faculties of education, agricul- semination in the federal universities in South East Nigeria. ture, and social sciences, while all the guidance counselors in the whole federal universities were used for the study due to Research Question 2: What are the students’ awareness the smallness of their number. levels of e-counseling opportunities for career informa- The instrument that was used for data collection tion dissemination? was the E-Counselling Career Information Dissemination Questionnaire (E-CCIDQ) designed by the researchers. This Data analysis in Table 2 shows the mean and standard instrument has two sections, A and B. Section A is designed to deviations of the awareness level of male and female 4 SAGE Open Table 1. Percentage Analysis of the Ratings of the Counselors and Undergraduates on Availability of E-Counseling Facilities. Counselors (n = 36) Undergraduates (n = 1,000) E-counseling facilities % A % NA Decision % A % NA Decision 1. Computer system 100.00 00.00 AV 99.00 1.00 AV 2. Cellular phone 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 3. CD-ROM 100.00 00.00 AV 97.00 3.00 AV 4. Internet connection 100.00 00.00 AV 99.00 1.00 AV 5. Web browser 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 6. Flash drive 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 7. Virus scanner 100.00 00.00 AV 98.00 2.00 AV 8. Backup 97.20 2.80 AV 96.00 4.00 AV 9. Scanner 97.20 2.80 AV 93.00 7.00 AV 10. Internet telephony 91.70 8.30 AV 93.00 7.00 AV 11. Diskette 91.70 8.30 AV 92.00 8.00 AV 12. Flash drive 97.20 2.80 AV 87.00 13.00 AV 13. Graphic editor 91.70 8.30 AV 83.00 17.00 AV 14. Whiteboard 97.80 22.20 AV 81.00 19.00 AV 15. Java 69.40 30.60 AV 75.00 25.00 AV Note. AV = Available; A = Available; NA = Not available. undergraduates on e-counseling opportunities for career undergraduates to a high extent utilize those e-counseling in information dissemination. The data analysis result shows career information dissemination. Similarly, the overall that the mean ratings of both male and female undergradu- mean ratings of 3.31 and 3.49, for the counselors and the ates to Items 1, 2, and 3 are within the range of 3.50 to 4.00, undergraduates, respectively, imply that both to a high extent indicating that undergraduates in the federal universities in utilize e-counseling in career information dissemination. The South East Nigeria are very aware of those e-counseling overall standard deviation scores (counselors = 0.28 and opportunities. The mean ratings of both male and female undergraduates = 0.52) indicate that the two categories of undergraduates to Items 4, 5, and 7 are within the range of respondents vary much in their ratings of extent of utilization 2.50 to 3.49 indicating that undergraduates in the federal of e-counseling in career information dissemination. universities in South East Nigeria are moderately aware of those e-counseling opportunities. However, the overall Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between mean score ratings of 3.54 and 3.56 for male and female the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the counselors undergraduates, respectively, imply that the students are on the availability of e-counseling facilities for dissemi- very aware of the e-counseling opportunities. Besides, the nation of career information. overall standard deviations of 0.57 and 0.45 for the male and the female indicate that the ratings of the undergraduates did Table 4 shows that the calculated chi-square value of 1.72 not vary much. has a probability value of .63. Because the probability value of .63 is greater than the .05 level of significance, the null Research Question 3: What is the extent of utilization of hypothesis is accepted. Thus, there is no significant differ- e-counseling in career information dissemination among ence between the ratings of undergraduates and counselors counselors and undergraduates? on the availability of e-counseling facilities for dissemina- tion of career information. Table 3 shows the mean and standard deviation of the rat- ings of counselors and undergraduates on the extent of utili- Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between zation of e-counseling in career information dissemination mean ratings of the male and the female undergraduates among the undergraduates. The analysis shows that the mean on awareness level of e-counseling opportunities for ratings of both counselors and undergraduates to Items 1, 2, career information dissemination. 4, 5, 8, and 12 are within the range of 3.50 to 4.00, implying that both the counselors and the undergraduates to a very Table 5 shows that the probability associated with the cal- high extent utilize those e-counseling in career information culated value of t(–.338) is .74. Because the probability value dissemination. Also, the mean ratings of both the counselors of .74 is greater than .05 level of significance, the null and the undergraduates to Items 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 are within hypothesis is accepted meaning that there is no significant the range of 2.50 to 3.49 implying that both counselors and difference between mean ratings of male and female Omeje et al. 5 Table 2. Mean and Standard Deviations of the Awareness Level of Male and Female Undergraduates on E-Counseling Opportunities for Career Information Dissemination. Male (n = 500) Female (n = 500) Item statement M SD Decision M SD Decision 1. Using classroom forums in career information 3.88 0.38 VA 3.80 0.66 VA 2. Using messaging via Internet connectivity to 3.70 0.60 VA 3.68 0.76 VA disseminate career information 3. Using synchronous e-counseling approach 3.56 0.80 VA 3.52 0.83 VA 4. Using synchronous e-counseling approach 3.24 0.75 MA 3.46 0.87 MA 5. E-Counseling through film modeling of various types 3.46 0.94 MA 3.40 0.80 MA of occupation 6. Using psychometric test instruments stored in CD- 3.42 0.85 MA 3.28 0.69 MA ROM in appraising students’ career choice 7. Using what Sapp in e-counseling to guide people in 3.46 0.69 MA 3.84 0.50 MA making career choice Cluster mean 3.54 0.57 3.56 0.45 VA Note. X = the Mean; = 3.50-4.00 = very aware (VA); = 2.50-3.49 = moderately aware (MA). X X Table 3. Mean and Standard Deviations of Ratings of Counselors and Undergraduates on the Extent of Utilization of E-Counseling in Career Information Dissemination. Counselors Undergraduates (n = 36) (n = 1,000) Item statement M SD Rmk M SD Rmk 1. Sourcing career information via Internet 3.91 0.28 VHE 3.83 0.49 VHE 2. Using Facebook to disseminate career information 3.50 0.60 VHE 3.72 0.60 VHE 3. Sourcing career information via email 2.80 0.88 HE 3.54 0.76 VHE 4. Using mobile phones to extend career information 3.88 0.31 VHE 3.74 0.62 VHE 5. Utilizing computer to share career information 3.75 0.50 VHE 3.79 0.57 HE 6. Using Gmail to disseminate career information 2.72 0.74 HE 3.18 0.97 HE 7. Using BBM to disseminate career information 2.97 0.81 HE 3.39 0.88 HE 8. Sourcing career information through Google search 3.72 0.65 VHE 3.58 0.71 VHE 9. Using Twitter to share career information 2.94 0.67 HE 3.17 0.87 VHE 10. Using 2go to disseminate career information 2.80 0.70 HE 3.15 0.61 HE 11. Making use of Palmchat to extend career information 2.94 0.92 HE 3.20 0.84 HE 12. Using WhatsApp in messaging to source career information 3.86 0.42 VHE 3.69 0.73 VHE Cluster mean 3.31 0.28 HE 3.49 0.52 HE Note. X = the Mean; = 3.50-4.00 = very high extent (VHE); 2.50-3.49 = high extent (HE). BBM = Black Berry Messenger; Rmk = Remarks. undergraduates on awareness level of e-counseling opportu- counselors on the extent of utilization of e-counseling in dis- nities for career information dissemination. semination of career information with the mean ratings of the undergraduates being higher than that of the counselors. This Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference between implies that the undergraduates utilize e-counseling in dis- the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the counselors seminating of career information more than the counselors. on the extent of utilization of e-counseling in dissemina- tion of career information. Discussion Table 6 shows that the calculated value of t(–2.040) has The e-counseling facilities are available for career informa- an associated probability value of .04. Because the probabil- tion dissemination in the federal universities in South East ity value of .04 is less than .05 level of significance, the null Nigeria. hypothesis is rejected. Thus, there is a significant difference The results displayed in Table 1 reveal the percentage of between the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the the ratings of the counselors and the undergraduates on the 6 SAGE Open Table 4. Chi-Square Analysis of the Ratings of Undergraduate It further affirms the Research Question 1 analyses on the and Counselors on the Availability of E-Counseling Facilities for availability of e-counseling facilities among the undergradu- Dissemination of Career Information. ates in the universities. This finding is interesting as it tends to show that both the counselors and the undergraduates can Asymp. sig. identify ICT facilities and their uses. Implicitly, with the avail- Value df (two-sided) abilities of the ICT facilities, e-counseling would be functional Pearson chi-square 1.716 3 .633 in the universities South East of Nigeria. Consequently, in line Likelihood ratio 2.340 3 .505 with Ani (2006), the availabilities of these facilities would Linear-by-linear association 1.688 1 .194 enhance dissemination of career information through N of valid cases 1,036 e-counseling. Two cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .35. Students’ Awareness Level of E-Counseling Opportunities for Career Information Table 5. t-Test Analysis of Ratings of Male and Female Dissemination Undergraduates on Their Awareness Level of E-Counseling The result of data analysis with respect to the undergraduates Opportunities. awareness level of e-counseling opportunities for career Sig. information dissemination presented in Table 2 indicates that Undergraduates n M SD df t cal (two-tailed) the male and the female students are very aware of e-cous- nelling opportunities for dissemination of career information Male 500 3.49 0.59 998 −.338 .735 (male overall = 3.54, SD = 0.57; female overall = Female 500 3.50 0.43 X X 3.56, SD = 0.45). A global look at the analysis shows that the male and the female undergraduates are very aware of the use of e-counseling opportunities such as classroom forum, Table 6. t-Test Analysis of Ratings of Undergraduates and e-messaging and chatting, and synchronous and asynchro- Counselors on the Extent Utilization of E-Counseling in nous e-counseling in dissemination of career information. Dissemination of Career Information. However, the male and the female students’ awareness of the Sig. use of film modeling, psychometric test instruments stored in Status n M SD df t cal (two-tailed) CD-ROM, and WhatsApp opportunities in career informa- Counselors 36 3.31 0.28 1034 −2.040 .042 tion dissemination is of a moderate level. The fact that the Undergraduates 1,000 3.49 0.52 undergraduates are aware of these e-counseling opportuni- ties for dissemination of career information is interesting. It also shows that Nigerian undergraduates are not ignorant of these e-counseling opportunities but rather they have com- availability of e-counseling facilities for career information plaints with the existing e-counseling opportunities available dissemination in the federal universities in South East Nigeria. for use in this fast evolving ICT era (Febbets, 1999). The analysis reveals that the percentage ratings of both the The data analysis result in Table 5 reveals that there is no counselors and the undergraduates on the availability of Items significant difference between the male and the female stu- 1 to 15, which are computer, cellular phone, CD-ROM, dents’ awareness level of e-counseling opportunities for Internet connection, web browser, flash drive, virus scanner, career information dissemination (t cal = 0.33, sig [2-tailed] backup devices Internet telephony, diskette, graphic editor, = .74 df = 998, p = .05). This finding is interesting. That the whiteboard, and Java are more than 50%. This, by implication male and the female undergraduates did not differ in their shows that all the items are the available e-counseling facili- awareness level of the e-counseling opportunities for dis- ties for career information dissemination in the federal uni- semination of career information indicates that they are versities in South East Nigeria and that these e-counseling ICT compliant gender. This finding corroborates with facilities are familiar to the counselors and the undergradu- Khasanshina et al. (2008) that most students limited by the ates. This finding is in agreement with the early study of conventional face-to-face counseling resort now to e-coun- Febbets (1999), which notes that we live in a fast-changing seling, which is a more convenient and faster means of com- world, and if Nigerians must not be left behind, there is need municating with a counselor. to up-grade terminals to microcomputer, maintain them to keep pace with the technological development, which not only has significant impact on the information industry but The Extent of Utilization of E-Counseling in also is an important factor in information planning. Career Information Dissemination Among the Indeed, the result of Null Hypothesis 1 shows that there is Undergraduates no significant difference between the mean ratings of the undergraduates and the counselors on the availability of Result of data analysis on the extent of utilization of e- e-counseling facilities for dissemination of career information. counseling in dissemination of career information by Omeje et al. 7 counselors and undergraduate students presented in Table 3 counselors tends to suggest that e-counseling facilities shows that both groups of respondents utilize e-counseling are inadequate for use by the students and the counsel- in dissemination of career information to a high extent ors. Consequently, counselors should be provided with (counselors: overall = 3.31; undergraduates: overall more and stable facilities to enhance more opportuni- X X = 3.49). The result further reveals that in e-counseling, both ties for e-counseling with the undergraduates. the counselors and the undergraduates source and dissemi- 3. Counselors should be provided with opportunities to nate career information via mobile phones, Facebook, email, attend workshops and conferences where they will be and Google search. Others include using Twitter, Palmchats, exposed to more novel opportunities available in WhatsApp, and Black Berry Messenger (BBM). That both e-counseling utilization. With such exposure, they the counselors and the undergraduate students utilize would be more knowledgeable and skilled in their e-counseling to a high extent in disseminating career infor- usage in e-counseling opportunities. mation is encouraging. This finding tends to be in conso- nance with Ehrenfeld’s (2006) and Grohol’s (2011) research Declaration of Conflicting Interests findings that e-counseling is drastically overtaking the con- The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect ventional face-to-face counseling due to its more flexible, to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. convenient, and accessibility qualities. This study, in addition, reveals through the hypothesis Funding testing result in Table 6, that a significant difference exists The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or between the extent of utilization of e-counseling in career authorship of this article. information dissemination by the counselors and the under- graduate respondents, with the undergraduates being higher References in the utilization than the counselors (counselors: = 3.31; undergraduates: = 3.49; t cal = –2.04, sig [2-tailed] = Ani, S. (2006, January 17). The age of information and commu- nication technology. A 3 keys workshop organization by the .042, df = 1,034, p = .05). This result is not surprising because UNESCO Nigeria, At the African Thinkers Community of these undergraduates, final year students, are likely unem- Inquiring college of Education, Enugu, Nigeria. ployed. So, they are more likely to be engaged in the use of Cherry, K. (2014, June). Online therapy. About.com. Retrieved online social networks in sourcing and disseminating of from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OnlineCounse career information than the counselors who are already lling&oldtiden=609646249 employed. In addition, the convenience of use and easy Chiaha, G. T. U., Eze, J. U., & Ezeudu, F. O. (2013). Education accessibility to career information via e-counseling mode students access to e-learning facilities in universities South- might have also contributed to their higher utilization of East of Nigeria. Information and Knowledge Management, 3, e-counseling in disseminating career information. 32-41. Ehrenfeld, T. (2006). Virtual therapy. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/nd/psychotherapy/a/onlinepsych. Conclusion and Recommendations htm Elleven, R. K., & Allen, J. (2004). Applying technology to online The guidance counselors and the undergraduate students’ counselling: In online counselling: Suggestions for the begin- respondents have identified 15 e-counseling facilities such as ning e- therapist. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31, computer system, cellular phone, CD-ROM Internet connec- 223-227. tion, web browser, flash drive, virus scanner, backup, scanner, Febbets, S. (1999) The use of ICT in dissemination of career infor- Internet telephony, diskette, flash drive, graphic editor, white- mation in secondary schools in Ogbadigbo Local Government board, and Java as available for career information dissemi- Area of Benue state Nigeria. Information and Knowledge nation in the universities in South East of Nigeria. Equally, Management, 3, 78-83. the study revealed also that the undergraduate students are Fink, J., & Schoech, S. J. (2008). How to use computers and cyber- very aware of e-counseling opportunities for dissemination of space in the clinical practice of psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ: career information. However, although both respondents are Aronson. Gedge, R. (2009). Online counselling pros and cons. Available to a high extent using the identified e-counseling facilities in from www.scu.edu.au career information dissemination, it is also evident that Grohol, J. M. (2011). Wait there’s online therapy? females use these facilities more than males. Based on these PsychCentral. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/blog/ findings, the following recommendations are made: archives/2011/07/14/telehealth-wait.theres-online-therapy/ Gwinnell, E. (2003). Unique aspect of Internet relationships. In R. 1. More e-counseling facilities should be made avail- Wooton, P. Yellowless, & P. Mclaren (Eds.), Telepsychiary able in the various federal universities in South East and e-mental health (pp. 327-336). London, England: Royal of Nigeria for more improvement in dissemination of society of Medicine Press. career information among undergraduates. Haberstroth, S., Duffey, T., Evans, M., Gee, R., & Trepal, H. 2. That the undergraduates utilize e-counseling in dis- (2007). The experience of online counselling. Journal of seminating of career information more than the Mental Health Counselling, 29, 269-282. 8 SAGE Open Iwuama, B. C. (1999). Career information: A blue print for all. CyberPsychology & Behaviour, 3, 151-160. doi:10.1089/ Owerri, Nigeria: Joe Mankpa publishers. 109493100315996 Kanini, K., & Regehr, C. (2003). Clinical, ethical, and legal issues in e-therapy. Families in Society, 84, 155-162. Retrieved from Author Biographies http://dxdoi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.98 Khasanshina, E. V., Wolf, W. L., Emerson, E. N., & Stachura, M. Joachim Chinweike Omeje, PhD, is an Associate Professor of E. (2008). Counselling Center-based, tele-mental health for Guidance and Counselling from the University of Nigeria Nsukka . students at a rural university. Telemedicine and e-Health, 14, He teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in coun- 35-40. selling and contributes think pieces to several academic journals. Kraus, R., Hen, L., Boniel-Nissim, M., & Shapira, N. (2008). A His research interest spans a wide range of education, sexuality, comprehensive review and a meta-analysis of the effectiveness gender, family, information and adolesence. of internet-based psychotherapeutic interventions. Journal of Justina Ukamaka Eze, PhD, is senior lecturer in the department of Technology in Human services, 26, 109-160. Educational Foundations Guidance and Counselling unit of the Mallen, M. J., & Vogel, D. L. (2005, November). Online counsel- University of Nigeria Nsukka. She has engaged in many consul- ling reviewing the literature from a counselling psychology tancy positions as well teaches both undergraduate and postgradu- framework. The Counselling Psychologist, 33, 819-871. ate courses in Guidance and Counselling. Her research interest Omeje, J. C. (2010). Educational and occupational information in spans across education, gender, family and cultural issues. counselling: A fundamental approach. ISBN-978-978-48102- 3-4. Nsukka: Chuka Educational Publishers. Doris Chika Egeonu, PhD, is a student in the department of Suler, J. (2000). Psychotherapy in Cyberspace: A 5 dimensional Educational Foundations Guidance and Counselling unit of the model of online and computer mediated psychotherapy. University of Nigeria Nsukka . She engages in research activities.

Journal

SAGE Open – SAGE

Published: Jun 27, 2016

Keywords: utilization; e-counseling; career information; dissemination; undergraduates; universities

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