Asian International Students' Willingness to Seek Counseling: A Mixed-Methods Study

Using a mixed-methods survey design that was predominantly quantitative, this study explored Asian international students' willingness to seek counseling. Participants were 177 Asian international students recruited from a U. S. Midwestern University. After controlling for attitudes toward psychological help-seeking and past counseling experience, academic stress was significantly and positively related to willingness to seek counseling for academic problems. Qualitative data were also collected using one open-ended question in the survey: "What comes into your mind when you think about 'counseling' or 'mental health counseling'?" The qualitative analyses revealed positive perceptions of counseling as well as a personal reluctance to seek counseling. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.