The effectiveness of individual university counselling: the role of mentalization and emotion regulation strategies

The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of individual psychodynamic counselling provided by the SInAPSi Centre of University of Naples Federico II. The following questionnaires were administered in the pre-test and post-test: CORE-OM, for the evaluation of students’ psychological distress and functioning; SAES, for the evaluation of academic engagement; RFQ, for the evaluation of reflective functioning; and ERQ, for the evaluation of emotion regulation strategies. Descriptive and inferential analyses, such as regressions, were performed for evaluating outcomes and mechanisms of change. The study involved around 250 students, who participated in the 4-session counselling. Descriptive analysis showed that over 90% of students reported clinical levels of distress in the pre-test and, considering severity levels, showed that approximately 70% of students reported moderated to severe levels of distress. Nevertheless, students showed also psychological and academic resources in pre-test. Results indicated a significant improvement in all CORE-OM dimensions and in most of the SAES dimensions. Categorial analysis of CORE-OM revealed that about 50% of students reliably and/or clinically improved from pre-test to post-test. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the role of mechanisms of change in the outcomes. Specifically, higher levels of cognitive reappraisal in pre-test (β= -.326, p = .015, OR = .722) and the improvement of certainty of mental states (β= -0.631, p = 0.048, OR = 0.532) predicted an increasing probability to belong to the non-clinical category in post-test. Moreover, an increasing level of suppression (β= 0.326, p = 0.033, OR = 1.39) predicted an increasing probability to belong to the clinical category in post-test. On the one hand, findings confirmed the effectiveness of individual counselling in decreasing psychological distress and improving academic engagement; on the other, results highlighted the role of emotion regulation and mentalization in the effectiveness of counselling.