Students' referral causes to counselling services of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of medical sciences, Southwest of Iran

Introduction: The university counselling services have a fundamental role in guiding of students. These centers provide counselling affairs for students who need help to overcome their problems and successfully complete their education. This study designed to determine referral causes of students to counseling services in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, referral causes of 132 students to counseling services at one-year period were analyzed. Data of this study were extracted from the recording notes of these centers. The data were analysed by chi-square test.

Results: Of 1300 students, 132 (10.15%) had at least one referral to the University counseling services. Dental students referred to these centers more than medical students (18.3% vs. 8.8%, χ2=15.71 and p=0.02). The main referral causes were: education problems (17.4%), emotional problems (29.8%), individual problems (25.8%), marital problems (20.5%) and family problems (6.1%). The chi-square analysis indicated significant differences for referral causes of students by marital and native status (p=0.023 and 0.010 respectively).

Conclusion: The number of referrals to the University counselling services suggest that these adopting of these centres by students as representative of necessary counselling affairs. In the present study, most common referral causes to these services were emotional and individual problems.