Guidance and Counseling Needs of Students in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Identification of counseling needs of students paves the way for better organizing the process of counseling and guidance of students in university. This study aimed to determine the counseling needs of students in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in 2013. This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 391 students of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. Data collection tool was a self-administrated 4-point scaled questionnaire including 34 items which asked students’ opinions on their needs to counseling and guidance in different areas. Validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by content validity and its reliability was confirmed usingCronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using t-test and ANOVA. The mean of counseling need priorities, in order of importance, were: personal development (2.71±0.59), vocational needs (2.69±0.60), educational needs (2.57±0.71), family and marriage needs (2.55±0.62), and emotional-psychological needs (2.47±0.66). Counseling needs of female students were significantly greater than male students in all areas (p<0.05). No significant difference was found between indigenousness, field of study, year of admission, job, parents’ education and the counseling needs of student (p>0.05). Results showed that personal development and vocational needs were the most important counseling needs of students; it is therefore recommended that universities and higher education institutes consider these factors in designing university counseling programs in order to facilitate students’ academic achievements and to prevent their academic failures.