Understanding the psychology of seeking support to increase Health Science student engagement in academic support services - A Practice Report - Volume 4 - Issue 1

Sep 5, 2026

Increasing student engagement within higher education academic support services is a persistent challenge, as engagement supports retention while non-engagement is linked to attrition. Health Science students may be aware of academic deficiencies yet remain reluctant to use available support. Using a “psychology of seeking support” lens, the report examines barriers to help-seeking. Making attendance at support courses compulsory for students below a post-entrance literacy benchmark reduced “at risk” fail rates by 50%, indicating potential long-term attrition benefits.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background to the initiative to promote student engagement with support services

Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 109-116 April 2013 Understanding the psychology of seeking support to increase Health Science student engagement in academic support services. A Practice Report Gerard Hoyne and Keith McNaught University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia Abstract Increasing student engagement within higher education academic support services is a constant challenge. Whilst engagement with support is positively associated with successful retention, and non-engagement connected to attrition, the most vulnerable students are often the least likely to engage. Our data has shown that Health Science students are reluctant to engage with academic support services despite being made aware of their academic deficiencies. The “psychology of seeking support” was used as a lens to identify some of the multifaceted issues around student engagement. The School of Health Sciences made attendance at support courses compulsory for those students who were below the benchmark score in a post entrance literacy test. Since the policy change was implemented, there has been a 50% reduction in the fail rate of “at risk” students in a core literacy unit. These findings are encouraging and will help reduce student attrition in the long term. Please cite this practice report as: Hoyne, G., & McNaught, K. (2013) . Understanding the psychology of seeking support to increase Health Science student engagement in academic support services. A Practice Report. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 4(1) . 109-106. doi: 10.5204/intjfyhe.v4i1.149 This practice report has been accepted for publication in Int J FYHE. Please see the Editorial Policies under the ‘About’ section of the Journal website for further information. © Copyright of practice reports is retained by authors. As an open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings. ISSN: 1838-2959 Introduction Some individuals commence higher education without the necessary prerequisite skills, support structures, role models and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1991) which are essential for success. Such “at risk” students might not display self-help seeking behaviours, and may have less positive attitudes towards seeking assistance (Raviv, Raviv, Vago-Gefen, & Schachter Fink, 2009) . Wilson and Deane (2002) recognised that there are several psychological barriers to seeking help which may include fear, a self-belief that one cannot be helped, shame, previous negative experiences when seeking assistance, and a denial of the need that exists. Moreover, “learned helplessness”(Seligman, 1990) ascribes that some individuals become immobilised by an expectation of failure. According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to manage situations. Students with high levels of self-efficacy use higher order thinking strategies and persevere with tasks (Pajares, 1997) . High self-efficacy increases motivation, task focus and effort and decreases negative thinking and anxiety (Bandura, 1997) . For first-year students in particular, self-efficacy and resilience are important factors (Reynolds & Weigand, 2010) . Attrition rates for first year students at university are double the rate for subsequent years (Urban, Jones, Smith, Evans, Mclachan & Karmel, 1999) providing a challenge for universities to engage students when they need it most. The “possible self” is the bridge to action (Huitt & Cain, 2005) where a person envisages their potential rather than their current circumstances. A university student who seeks assistance is demonstrating their self belief that they can be assisted, and that assistance has the potential to change their current situation. Thus, they are demonstrating a level of self-efficacy. Resilient attitudes encourage self-efficacy, which increases the likelihood of engagement with support mechanisms. Two characteristics of resilience: perseve

FAQs

Why is student engagement with academic support services important?

Engagement is positively associated with successful retention, while non-engagement is connected to attrition. The report notes that vulnerable students are often least likely to engage.

What psychological lens is used to analyze student engagement?

The report uses the “psychology of seeking support” as a framework to identify multifaceted issues affecting whether students engage with support services.

What change was introduced, and what outcome resulted?

Attendance at support courses was made compulsory for students scoring below the benchmark in a post-entrance literacy test. After implementation, the fail rate of “at risk” students in a core literacy unit dropped by 50%.

Sep 5, 2026

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