Tuesday, August 21, 2012

 

Design and Implementation of group counselling, via a computer-mediated platform, for Internet addiction Disorder


Abstract from thesis entitle :"Design and Implementation of group counselling, via a computer-mediated platform, for Internet addiction Disorder " - A thesis Submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in Counselling at University of Technology (Mauritius)  by Ponnusawmy, Harry Krishna (090433), January 2011"

Investigating the prevalence of Internet addiction disorder among Mauritian students at tertiary level seems to be appropriate, especially at a time when Internet access cost is becoming cheaper and number of user is, consequently, growing. This thesis, structured with an initial preliminary investigation about online behaviours of tertiary students and the psychological features associated with Internet addiction, explores the design and implementation of online counselling. A random sample of more than eighty participants completed a web-based questionnaire, which was used to assess the usage, influence and depth of penetration of Internet in students’ life at the University of Mauritius. Backup with a critical literature review, this research study used a methodological framework to setup online counselling session for treating Internet Addiction disorder (IAD). The design and implementation process was developed and analysed after a group of nine counsellees completed online group counselling sessions for IAD, by extensive use of discussion forum for communication purpose. The three months long program ended with a feedback questionnaire, where participants responded to a series of open and closed-ended type questions pertaining to whether they found the counselling sessions to be helpful, useful and meaningful. Moreover, the best features of the online platform and areas which needs improvement were also queried. From a compilation of advantages of using a virtual environment, benefits of online counselling were deduced and the whole implementation process was presented as a model which can be used to screen counsellee for online counselling program to handle IAD and provide remedial solutions via a computer-mediated platform, if needed.


Keywords:  Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), online counselling, computer-mediated communication, University students, 

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