Why Do Music Students Attend Counseling? A Longitudinal Study of Reasons in One UK Conservatoire

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Journal of Research in Music Education
Volume 0: Ahead of Print
ARTICLE
Why Do Music Students Attend Counseling? A Longitudinal Study of Reasons in One UK Conservatoire
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Raluca Matei and Jane Ginsborg
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© National Association for Music Education 2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/00224294231168622open_in_new
PublisherSAGE Publications
ISSN0022-4294
eISSN1945-0095
AcceptedFebruary 8, 2023
ReceivedAugust 18, 2022
Abstract
Music students in tertiary education struggle with a range of health-related problems. We investigated students’ self-referrals for counseling at a UK conservatoire to explore trends in students’ attendance at counseling sessions over time and identify their reasons for seeking and continuing to attend counseling. We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected from 645 students by two in-house counselors at the conservatoire between 2000 and 2016. We obtained analogous data on all students registered during the same period for comparison and conducted nonparametric tests of association between the groups. A total of 645 students attended a mean of eight (Mdn = 4) counseling sessions over the 16-year period: 63% were female, 79% were from the UK, and 72.5% were undergraduate students. The percentages of students attending counseling increased from 2 (1%) in 2000–2001 to 71 (13%) in 2015–2016. The presenting concerns of almost one in 10 students who sought counseling were related to self-esteem, self-confidence, ego strength, and coping ability. Their main reasons for continuing to attend counseling were also to do with self and identity, relationships, academic concerns, loss, abuse, and anxiety. Female students, postgraduate students, and those studying singing were most likely to attend counseling sessions.
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Table 1.

Academic Year	Registered Students	Sex		Program		School of Study					Nationality
Academic Year	Registered Students	M	F	UG	G	K	S	VOS	WBP	C	EU	Home	OS
2000–2001	140	59	81	118	22	22	39	30	44	5	11	121	8
2001–2002	248	114	134	224	24	32	83	43	85	5	16	212	20
2002–2003	370	164	206	332	34	41	137	54	120	15	27	324	19
2003–2004	327	153	174	308	19	42	131	36	103	14	19	283	25
2004–2005	328	149	179	307	19	47	118	33	113	16	24	267	37
2005–2006	375	175	200	335	39	46	139	36	140	14	38	302	35
2006–2007	443	195	248	400	38	54	152	61	160	14	30	368	45
2007–2008	435	188	247	360	67	53	151	70	147	12	27	354	54
2008–2009	432	206	226	387	42	56	136	74	129	12	23	360	49
2009–2010	455	228	227	360	95	57	131	85	131	17	34	355	66
2010–2011	483	243	240	373	105	59	136	91	121	24	44	382	57
2011–2012	454	231	223	369	82	59	108	93	139	17	40	362	52
2012–2013	463	225	238	377	78	68	113	104	127	13	36	366	61
2013–2014	499	262	237	425	74	54	106	123	131	19	42	389	68
2014–2015	504	259	242	419	83	59	113	96	125	24	38	392	74
2015–2016	567	302	265	477	90	46	144	91	137	28	47	435	85
Total	6,523	3,153	3,632	,5571	991	795	1,937	1,120	1,952	249	496	5,272	755

Characteristics of Students Registered in 2000–2016.

Note. UG = undergraduate; PG = graduate; K = keyboards; S = strings; VOS = vocal and opera studies; WBP = wind, brass, and percussion; C = school of composition; EU = European Union; home = UK & Channel Islands; OS = overseas (anywhere other than UK and EU).

Table 1.

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Table 2.

Academic Year	Number of All Registered Students	Number of Students Attending Counseling Sessions	Percentage Represented by Students Attending Counseling Sessions
2000–2001	140	2	1%
2001–2002	248	14	6%
2002–2003	370	47	13%
2003–2004	327	27	8%
2004–2005	328	17	5%
2005–2006	375	27	7%
2006–2007	443	31	7%
2007–2008	435	34	8%
2008–2009	432	28	7%
2009–2010	455	41	9%
2010–2011	483	46	10%
2011–2012	454	38	8%
2012–2013	463	60	13%
2013–2014	499	86	17%
2014–2015	505	76	15%
2015–2016	567	71	13%

Frequency and Percentages of Students Attending Counseling Sessions Relative to All Registered Students in Each Year.

Table 2.

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Table 3.

Main Reasons by Category	n	%
1. Self and identity	530	82%
a) Self-esteem	376	58%
b) Personal growth/search for values and meaning	80	12%
c) Other	74	11%
2. Relationships	469	73%
a) Relationship in the family or with a family member	173	27%
b) Relationship with partner	77	12%
c) Relationship with other/s (including staff)	71	11%
d) Relationship with friend(s) and/or house mates	44	7%
e) Difficulties in relationship with the opposite gender	26	4%
f) Other	78	12%
3. Academic	311	48%
a) Performance anxiety – not exams	49	8%
b) Lack of academic motivation/concentration and procrastination	47	7%
c) Poor study skills/time management	40	6%
d) Struggling academically	33	5%
e) Disappointment with course/course content	24	4%
f) Other	118	18%
4. Loss	203	31%
a) Letting go after a relationship ends	71	11%
b) Bereavement – a loss of a relationship through death	62	10%
c) Other	70	11%
5. Abuse	128	20%
a) Persecution/bullying/harassment/stalking	47	7%
b) Other	81	13%
6. Anxiety	126	20%
a) Anxiety mild	38	6%
b) Severe anxiety state	27	4%
c) Panic attacks	22	3%
d) Other	39	6%
7. Physical health	70	11%
8. Services, welfare, and employment	66	10%
a) Employment and vocational	36	6%
b) Other	30	5%
9. Depression, anger, and mood change or disorder	44	7%
10. Self-harm	44	7%
a) Intentional self-harm	25	4%
b) Other	19	3%
11. Eating disorders	39	6%
12. Transitions	33	5%
13. Other mental health conditions	25	4%
14. Sexual issues	21	3%
15. Addictive behavior	14	2%

Main Reasons Why Students Attended Counseling Sessions (AUCC Categorisation of Client Concerns).

Note. n = frequency of all students who raised a concern in this category; % = percentage of all the students who attended counseling between 2000 and 2016.

Table 3.

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