A Comparison of a Client's Satisfaction between Online and Face-to-face Counselling in a School Setting

During the current Covid-19 pandemic, the social relationship between humans has changed. As noticed, lockdowns and social distancing have become new norms. Unavoidably, counselling services were also affected with social distancing rules, especially in the school setting. Thus, online counselling or e-counselling has begun to gain in popularity, allowing counsellors to offer their services in an alternative way. In order to evaluate the suitability of e-counselling during the current pandemic, a client's satisfaction towards e-counselling and face-to-face counselling needs to be investigated. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of these two counselling approaches using the level of the client's satisfaction and its implication towards counselling practises during the outbreak. Quantitative data were obtained using the Client's Satisfaction Inventory Short-Form (CSI-SF) questionnaire. The experimental design consisted of a total of 60 study subjects in two groups, namely the control group using the face-to-face Counselling method and the experimental group using the e-Counselling method. Based on the results, the difference in mean score showed that the mean difference in the experimental group was slightly higher than the control group. This finding indicates that e-counselling clients have a higher satisfaction compared to the face-to-face approach. The implications of this data are discussed on the role of school, school counsellor, and the government in enhancing the service of e-counselling during the current pandemic.