Purpose: A limited number of studies have explored the challenges and issues faced by parents with children of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are receiving speech-language services in Malaysia. This study aimed to explore the perceptions, challenges, and experiences of parents whose children with ASD are receiving speech-language therapy services. Methods: Three individual interview sessions were conducted with eight parents of children with ASD. Interviews were transcribed and evaluated using thematic analysis. Results: Four major themes were discovered from the interviews with the parents of children with ASD. These included: (1) a lack of knowledge about ASD, (2) insights into the impacts of ASD on the parents’ lives, (3) their perceived challenges at the time they were seeking speech intervention, and (4) their views about the positive aspects of their children receiving speech therapy. Conclusions: Parents viewed their children’s speech therapy as positive and helpful, but they also perceived barriers and challenges when accessing this therapy. An increase in public awareness about ASD and establishing structured ASD support group could provide helpful resources for parents and may assist them in overcoming these challenges. Future studies should determine coping strategies and solutions for these challenges to provide better support for families of children with ASD.

This qualitative study explored Malaysian caregivers' experiences when caring for people with Parkinson disease (PD). Semistructured interviews (n = 10) were conducted, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Four major themes and 9 subthemes emerged from the challenges faced by these caregivers. The 4 themes were “communication challenges,” “coping with communication challenges,” “becoming more dependent,” and “reduction in social participation.” Caregivers often demonstrated poor knowledge of PD and reported communication, physical, and psychosocial impacts affecting both them and the person with PD. To ensure the well-being of both caregivers and dependents with PD, the communication and social participation needs of caregivers and dependents should be considered during assessment and the planning of intervention.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of online self-compassion practice on self-compassion, emotional regulation, and perceived wellbeing in counselling students. Counsellors are exposed to high risks of psychological and emotional distress, therefore self-compassion as self-care strategy is essential to be cultivated among counselling students. In this study, purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants via the internet. Thirty-two counselling students participated in a 14-day online program as an intervention of self-compassion practice. Data for self-compassion, emotional regulation and perceived wellbeing were collected before, after and 1 month follow up of the program. Data were analyzed using nonparametric Friedman test. The result shows the potential of such intervention by revealing improvements in several measures over two weeks and supported partial hypotheses. Firstly, the findings shows that the daily self-compassion practice has a significant effect on self-compassion, specifically self-kindness, and mindfulness. Secondly, there is also significant difference on wellbeing. Lastly, supported with qualitative data in participants’ survey, the overall experience with daily self-compassion practice is all positively worded. Both quantitative and qualitative findings from our present study showed that the intervention greatly increase participants’ sense of self-kindness and perceived wellbeing throughout the 14 days. Overall, this study supports the previous studies on the effectiveness of self-compassion and further supports the wellbeing of counselling students. The implication of the study is self-compassion and wellbeing could be promoted through a short intervention program via online platform, and it may serve as a support tool to other traditional forms of intervention. Keywords: Counselling students, emotional regulation, perceived wellbeing, self compassion

Seeking counselling help is an essential strategy for addressing mental health issues, particularly among university students who face various academic and personal challenges. This research examines help-seeking behaviour for counselling among university students from China. A systematic search of electronic databases, including PubMed, PsycINFO, CNKI, and Google Scholar was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Search terms included "Chinese university students" AND "counselling" OR "mental health help" OR "mental health service" AND "mental health" AND "help-seeking" OR "seeking help" AND "barriers to seeking counselling" OR "challenges in seeking counselling." The research was limited to peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2024. Quality assessment was performed on the identified studies. Based on the selection criteria, 32 articles, met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 23 studies employed quantitative methods; one used a cohort design, three used qualitative methods, one used mixed methods, and four used experimental designs. Drawing on data from 39,495 participants, the analysis revealed the prevalence of help-seeking, the barriers to help-seeking and the interventions implemented. Findings suggest that help-seeking for counselling among Chinese university students is relatively low. The decision to seek help is influenced by a complex interplay of barriers, including attitudes, stigma, mental health literacy, and other facilitators. Additionally, cultural factors play a significant role in shaping help-seeking behaviours. Future research should focus on experimental studies to better understand trends in help-seeking behaviour and to develop high-reliability and high-validity intervention programmes that account for cultural influences.

Living with cancer is challenging. The journey of treatment and recovery can be a daunting experience for individuals with cancer as well as caregivers. Studies have shown that cancer survivors’ coping strategies and the support received were keys to recovery. Hence, this research aims to explore the challenges faced by cancer survivor and caregiver, their unmet needs, coping strategies, support and changes they have discovered during the recovery journey. A qualitative research method was adopted where a cancer survivor and a caregiver were chosen purposively. Both of them were interviewed separately in order to understand their experience in an in-depth manner. The data was transcribed and analysed with thematic analysis aided by Nvivo 12. Data was triangulated through member checking, informants’ and experts’ validation. Informal observation, newspaper articles and social media communication were referred to ensure the trustworthiness of the data. The findings show that both cancer survivor and caregiver were overwhelmed with negative emotions. However, both parties entrusted their beliefs to God and combated the disease with perseverance and optimism. Their personality, coping strategies and support received from family, friends and communities were their main resources. This study suggests that forming supportive communities and involving mental health professionals enable both individual with cancer and caregiver to face the disease in a more proactive manner.