Biography
Prof. Antonietta Curci
Prof. Antonietta Curci
University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy
Title: Emotional and cognitive benefits of strategically oriented counselling interventions on university students
Abstract: 

Keywords: University, psychological well-being, emotion regulation, perceived self-esteem

 

ABSTRACT: Psychological counselling services are of crucial importance in supporting individuals to cope with psychological distress occurring in daily life. More specifically, university counselling represents a support for university students, who might be concerned by difficulties with passing an exam, career blocks or, more generally, a rearrangement of the entire life plan at an age in which the representation of the Self becomes progressively defined. Moreover, during the Covid-19 emergency, in consideration of the exceptional nature of the moment, university counselling services have been extended to both teaching and administrative staff, in order to provide a quick and effective response to requests for help related to lockdown stress.

The adoption of a strategic approach to university counselling services entails two levels, i.e. the methodological and the organizational level. From the methodological point of view, from the first session, through the whole intervention and up to the final follow-up session, a strategically oriented service reflects an integrated idea in which different theoretical perspectives and methodologies cooperate and pragmatically contaminate each other, to manage the request along with the user’s individual characteristics. In addition, at the organizational level, a strategically oriented service represents a functional approach to promoting the professional skills already operating in the field of university counselling and contributes to a stimulating organizational climate among operators to the advantage of users and psychologists in training.

A typical university service with a strategical orientation is structured along three possible lines of intervention:

1. Support for stress management in the university context, promotion of effective coping and support for emotional fragility through a cycle of one-to-one sessions.

2. Clinical support with dynamic approach including a cycle of one-to-one sessions and/or group sessions for a focal intervention on anxiety, depression, and internal conflicts on identity definition.

3. Training on study organization and planning, strategic time management, problem solving, effective communication style, motivation to study.

Following this strategical perspective, I will present the results of some studies involving students addressing the university psychological counselling services. The goal of these studies was to investigate the cognitive and emotional benefits of a counselling intervention program on self-report measures of psychological wellbeing, cognitive performance, emotional regulation and perceived self-efficacy. The results show a significant increase in students’ indices of well-being, the adoption of functional emotional regulation strategies and improvement of perceived self-efficacy, along with a significant increase in performance-based academic outcomes. Finally, the quali-quantitative analyses on satisfaction emphasize the competence of professionals involved and the chance for students if receiving a free service.

In sum, the strategically oriented university psychological counselling services represent a context in which the student does not feel merely evaluated by the institution. By contrast, these services provide a protected context in which the student is welcomed in his/her uniqueness, and not through a number certifying the exam performance. The success of this approach is demonstrated by the encouraging benefits the students report on their cognitive and academic performance and on their emotional and motivational responses to university challenges.

Biography: 
Antonietta Curci is a psychologist, psychotherapist and full professor of General Psychology at the Department of Education, Psychology, Communication of the University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy. She coordinates a post-graduate program in Forensic Psychology. She is the delegate of the University Rector for students' rights and the scientific coordinator of the Psychological Counseling Services at the University of Bari. Her research work is about executive functions in emotional regulation, emotional intelligence, psychopathy, autobiographical and Flashbulb memory, and eyewitness testimony. She is an Associate Editor of the journal "Memory" and she cooperates with research groups in US, Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, and UK. She frequently participates as an expert witness in criminal and civil forensic cases concerning criminal responsibility of juvenile offenders, witness testimony of children and victims of sexual abuses, family conflicts involving maltreatments and abuses.