Social anxiety experiences and responses of university students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the responses of university students in social anxiety situations in order to create a psychological counselling program with a structured group based on Cognitive Behavioural and Existential Approaches. These responses involve the behaviour and thoughts of the university students in situations where they experience or anticipate social anxiety. The semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used in the study during the face-to-face interviews with fifty-one 4th year students from the Guidance and Psychological Counselling (GPC) and Pre-School Teaching (PST) departments. The scope of the interview form includes the situations where 1) students experience social anxiety in the school setting and their thoughts and behaviours regarding these situations, 2) the situations where they anticipate social anxiety in their future profession, and 3) the situations where they experience social anxiety in their daily lives. Our aim was to collect data from these areas. The data collected were analysed through content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the thoughts regarding the social anxiety situations of the final year students studying in Guidance and Psychological Counselling and Pre-School Teaching departments are generally negative and their behaviour usually presents as desertion or avoidance.

Keywords:  university students, social anxiety, group counselling.