ONLINE COUNSELLING SESSION: DEVELOPING

ETHICAL GUIDELINE FRAMEWORK FOR

COUNSELLORS AND CLIENTS IN MALAYSIA

BY

ZULFIKAR BIN AHMAD

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for

the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Kulliyyah of Education

International Islamic University Malaysia

SEPTEMBER 2017

ii

ABSTRACT

The advancement of technology offers a new communication medium and approach

for counsellors in Malaysia to deliver counselling sessions online. Although the

traditional practice of counselling involves face-to-face interaction between counsellor

and client, a growing number of practitioners are providing online counselling

sessions via Social Networking Services (SNS) and Mobile Chat Applications (MCA).

The goal of the study was to develop an ethical guideline framework in an online

counselling session for counsellors in Malaysia. Variables such as mutual trust

framework, techniques in counselling and ethical guidelines were assessed.

Respondents were selected through purposive sampling involving 39 undergraduate

students (35 females and 4 males) majoring in Guidance and Counselling from the

Kulliyyah of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The

respondents do not represent the whole population but assisted the researcher to

pursue Focus Group Discussion (FGD) as the method in collecting data. The

processes and procedures of collecting data involved defining a focus group, setting

questions, conducting the discussions and analysing the data were properly conducted

with the supervision of the respective lecturer in the field. Atlas.ti 7 Window software

was used as a tool to analyse data. The results of the study indicated that there are

three main elements that help form ethical guidelines in an online counselling session;

general ethics of both the counsellor and the client, the counsellor’s ethics as the main

provider of the service and the users of the services provided. Based on the research

finding, a framework on ethical guidelines formed through emerging topics was

proposed. Guidelines on confidentiality and security, dual relationship and informed

consent ethics when conducting online counselling session were identified as core

elements in the ethical framework proposed. The implication and contributions of the

finding may help to assist counsellors, clients, the government, higher learning

institutions and accreditation bodies in providing better counselling services in the

future.

iii

خلاصة البحث

ارين في ماليزيا لتقديم دم التكنولوجي وسيلة اتصال جديدة، ومنهجا جديدا للمستشوفَّر التق ستشارةلممارسة التقليدية لتقديم الاة عبر الإنترنت. على الرغم من أن اار شستجلسات الا

ن المستشارين تشمل التفاعل وجها لوجه بين المستشار والعميل، إلا أن هناك عددا متزايدا م( SNSعبر الإنترنت من خلال خدمات الشبكات الاجتماعية ) ستشارةيمارس جلسات الا

ضع إطار توجيهي الهدف من هذه الدراسة و (. و MCAوتطبيقات الدردشة المتنقلة )لاستشارة عبر الإنترنت للمستشارين في ماليزيا. وتم تقييم متغيرات مثل أخلاقي في جلسة ا

ة، والمبادئ التوجيهية الأخلاقية. تم اختيار ار شستلالمتبادلة، والتقنيات في تقديم اإطار الثقة امن ذكور( 4و ثىأن 35طالبا جامعيا ) 39ادفة مللت العينة الهالمستجيبين من خلال

من كلية التربية، الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية في ماليزيا توجيهفي الإرشاد وال المتخصصين(IIUM .) تشكيل ومتابعةساعدوا الباحث على ولكنهم المجتمع، كليمثل المجيبون لا و

لجمع البيانات. وقد تم إجراء عمليات وإجراءات اأسلوببوصفها مصغرة، ناقشةم مجموعةوتحليل ،، وإجراء المناقشةالأسئلة، ووضع المناقشةجمع البيانات المتعلقة بتحديد مجموعة

تي أطلس ستخدام برنامجتم او البيانات بشكل صحيح بإشراف المحاضر المعني في هذا المجال. تثلاثة عناصر رئيسة شكل هناك أداة لإجراء تحليل البيانات. وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة أن 7الأخلاقيات العامة لكل من :ستشارية عبر الإنترنتالالسة الجخلاقية في الأتوجيهية البادئ الم

فضلا عن مستخدمي ،المستشار والعميل، وأخلاقيات المستشار كمقدم رئيس للخدمةح إطار عمل بشأن المبادئ التوجيهية ا اقتر تم الخدمات المقدمة. واستنادا إلى نتائج البحث،

الأخلاقية التي تم تشكيلها من خلال المواضيع الناشئة. وحددت المبادئ التوجيهية المتعلقة ستشارةراء جلسة الاإج والعلاقة المزدوجة وأخلاقيات الموافقة المستنيرة في ،والأمن ،بالسرية

ح. ومن المممل أن تساعد عبر الإنترنت بوصفها عناصر أساسية في الإطار الأخلاقي المقتر ،وممسسات التعليم العالي ،والحكومة ،والعملاء ،في تقديم المساعدة للمستشارين النتائج

وهيئات الاعتماد في تقديم خدمات استشارية أفضل في المستقبل.

iv

APPROVAL PAGE

This dissertation of Zulfikar bin Ahmad has been approved by the following:

_________________________________

Nik Ahmad Hisham Ismail

Supervisor

__________________________________

Ssekamanya Siraje Abdallah

Co-Supervisor

_________________________________

Khamsiah Ismail

Co-Supervisor

________________________________

Siti Rafiah Abd Hamid

Internal Examiner

________________________________

Mohamed Sharif Hj. Mustaffa

External Examiner

________________________________

Diana Lea Baranovich

External Examiner

______________________________

Sohirin Mohammad Solihin

Chairperson

v

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except

where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently

submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Zulfikar bin Ahmad

Signature........................................................... Date.........................................

vi

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF

FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH

ONLINE COUNSELLING SESSION: DEVELOPING ETHICAL

GUIDELINE FRAMEWORK FOR COUNSELLORS AND

CLIENTS IN MALAYSIA

I declare that the copyright holder of this dissertation are jointly owned by the student

and IIUM

Copyright © 2017 Zulfikar bin Ahmad and International Islamic University Malaysia. All rights

reserved.

No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder

except as provided below

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may

be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.

2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print

or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.

3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieved system

and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other

universities and research libraries.

By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM

Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy.

Affirmed by Zulfikar bin Ahmad

……..…………………….. ………………………..

Signature Date

vii

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

To my wife, Dr. Szariannie Bt Sulaiman and my children, Zurainie Zulfikar, Zulfa

Zulfikar and Ahmad Azzubair Zulfikar, whose love, companionship and inspiration

made this piece of work possible.

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This journey would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of

the following individuals, and I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to each of them.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Nik

Ahmad Hisham Ismail for his unwavering support and mentorship.

A special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents, Hj. Ahmad bin Hitam and

Allahyarhamah Hjh. Marlina binti Bachtiar Zein whose words of encouragement and

push for tenacity ring in my ears. My parents-in-law, Allahyarham Sulaiman bin

Ismail and Zunaijah binti Ahmad thank you so much. To my other half, my wife, Dr.

Szariannie binti Sulaiman thank you for being my thesis buddy. Without her

thoughtful encouragement and understanding, my study would be impossible. My

children, Zurainie, Zulfa and Ahmad Azzubair, thank you for being there for babah

and ibu throughout this 8 years of our study. We love you so much. To my sisters and

brother, Zuryetmy Ahmad, Yuly Erna Ahmad, Rina Affridawanti Ahmad and Hazrul

Fahmi Ahmad, thank you so much for your supports.

To my colleague, Asst. Prof. Dr. Siti Kholijah Kassim thank you for assisting

me till the end of this thesis. My thanks also go out to the kulliyyah members at the

Kulliyyah of Education, IIUM who so kindly assist me in this journey.

Finally, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to my officemates at Pusat

Kaunseling UTM Kuala Lumpur, friends and teammates for giving me the support

and du’a when I needed them the most. You guys have been my best cheerleaders.

Jazakallahukhairan

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract .........................................................................................................................ii Abstract in Arabic .........................................................................................................iii Approval Page ...............................................................................................................iv Declaration ....................................................................................................................v Copyright Page..............................................................................................................vi Dedication .....................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................viii List of Tables ................................................................................................................xiii List of Figures ...............................................................................................................xiv

List of Diagrams ...........................................................................................................xiv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................1 1.2 Statement of Problem ..................................................................................9 1.3 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................14 1.4 Research Questions .....................................................................................14 1.5 Previous Studies on Online Counselling.....................................................17 1.6 Limitations of Study ...................................................................................20 1.7 Conceptual and Operational Definitions .....................................................20 1.8 General Organization of Thesis ..................................................................22 1.9 Conclusion ..................................................................................................23

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................24 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................24 2.2 Theoretical Framework of the Study ..........................................................25 2.3 Online Counselling Session ........................................................................28 2.4 Defining the Study ......................................................................................33 2.5 Trust from Islamic Perspectives..................................................................34 2.6 Ethical Guidelines .......................................................................................38 2.7 Informed Consent and Confidentiality Guidelines .....................................41 2.8 Confidentiality from Islamic Perspectives ..................................................50 2.9 Mobile Phone Technology ..........................................................................52 2.10 Chat Application ........................................................................................58 2.11 Mobile Chat Application ...........................................................................60 2.12 Social Networking Services (SNS) ...........................................................63 2.13 Conclusion .................................................................................................66

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................67 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................67 3.2 Methodology ...............................................................................................67

3.2.1 Selection of Study Area .....................................................................70 3.2.2 Selection of Respondents ...................................................................70 3.2.3 Data Collection Procedure .................................................................71 3.2.4 Process of Collecting Data .................................................................72

3.2.4.1 Defining a Focus Group .........................................................72

x

3.2.4.2 Designing the Focus Group Questions ..................................73 3.2.4.3 Recruiting and Preparing for Respondents ............................75 3.2.4.4 Conducting the Focus Group .................................................75 3.2.4.5 Thematic Analysis .................................................................76 3.2.4.6 Analyzing the Data ................................................................77

3.2.5 Data Triangulation .............................................................................78 3.2.6 Data Keeping .....................................................................................80 3.2.7 Limitation of the Study ......................................................................81

3.3 Validity and Trustworthiness (Reliability) .................................................81

3.4 Audit Trail ...................................................................................................83 3.13 Conclusion .................................................................................................83

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS ....................................................................84 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................85 4.2 Developing Mutual Trust in an Online Counselling Session .....................85

4.2.1 Source of Information ........................................................................85 4.2.1.1 Personal ..................................................................................86 4.2.1.2 Internet ...................................................................................88 4.2.1.3 Printed Resources...................................................................89

4.2.2 Preferred Medium ..............................................................................90 4.2.2.1 Mobile Application ................................................................91 4.2.2.2 Websites .................................................................................92 4.2.2.3 Social Networks .....................................................................93

4.2.3 Reason for Choosing the Medium .....................................................94 4.2.3.1 Accessibility ...........................................................................95 4.2.3.2 Trust (Amanah) ......................................................................97 4.2.3.3 Confidentiality .......................................................................98

4.2.4 Concept and Understanding Amanah in Online Counselling ............99 4.2.1.1 Amanah ..................................................................................100 4.2.1.2 Rapport ...................................................................................102 4.2.1.3 Ethical Issues in Counselling .................................................104

4.3 Examining Technique of Developing Mutual Trust Between

Counsellor And client in an Online Counselling Session ...........................106 4.3.1 Face-to-Face Experience ....................................................................107 4.3.2 Differences between Face-to-Face and Online Counselling ..............110

4.3.2.1 Advantages of Face-to-Face ..................................................111 4.3.2.2 Advantages of Online Counselling ........................................114 4.3.2.3 Disadvantages of Face-to-Face Counselling ..........................116 4.3.2.4 Disadvantages of Online Counselling ....................................117

4.3.3 Perception on Online Counselling .....................................................120 4.3.3.1 Yes (Have Attended and Perceived Online Counselling

Sessionas Practical) ................................................................121 4.3.3.2 No (Have Attended but Perceived Online Counselling

Session as Not Practical) ........................................................122 4.3.3.3 Maybe (Never Attended but Perceived Online

Counselling Session as Practical) ..........................................122 4.3.3.4 Never Attendonline Counselling Session ..............................123

4.3.4 Openness in Online Counselling ........................................................123

xi

4.3.4.1 Yes (Online Counselling Provide Openness in

Expressing Clients’ Feelings) ................................................124 4.3.4.2 No (Online Counselling does Not Provide Openness in

Expressing Clients’ Feelings) ................................................125 4.3.5 Informed Consent for Online Counselling Session Clients ...............127

4.3.5.1 Informed Consent in the Form of Soft Copy .........................128 4.3.5.2 Informed Consent in the Form of Hard Copy ........................130

4.3.6 Ground Rules for the Client in Online Counselling Session .............131 4.4 Providing Ethical Guidelines for Counsellors in Developing Mutual

Trust with Clients in an Online Counselling Session .................................133 4.4.1 Respondents Online Experience ........................................................133

4.4.1.1 Respondents Who Agree with Online Counselling ...............134 4.4.1.2 Respondents Disagree with Online Counselling....................136

4.4.2 Ethical Issues in Online Counselling .................................................137 4.4.2.1 Credibility ..............................................................................138 4.4.2.2 Limitation of the Session .......................................................139 4.4.2.3 Ethical Issue ...........................................................................141 4.4.2.4 Convenience in Managing Online Counselling Session ........143

4.4.3 Ethics to be Observed in Online Counselling ....................................143 4.4.3.1 Confidentiality .......................................................................146 4.4.3.2 Reliability ...............................................................................147 4.4.3.3 Dual Relationship...................................................................147 4.4.3.4 Validation ...............................................................................147

4.4.4 Promoting Ethical Values in Online Counselling ..............................148 4.4.4.1 Ethical Value ..........................................................................149 4.4.4.2 Skills in Conducting Online Counselling Session .................151

4.4.5 The Practice of Face-to-face or Online Counselling ..........................152 4.4.5.1 Opted on the Practice of Online Counselling Session ...........153 4.4.5.2 Opted on the Practice of Face-to-Face Counselling

Session ...................................................................................154 4.4.6 Promoting Online Counselling ..........................................................158

4.4.6.1 Those Who will Promote Online Counselling Session ..........159 4.4.6.2 Those Who will Not Promote Online Counselling

Session ...................................................................................161 4.4.7 Satisfactory Level in Online Counselling Session .............................162

4.4.7.1 Those Who are Satisfied with Online Counselling

Session ...................................................................................162 4.4.7.2 Those Who are Dissatisfied with Online Counselling

Session ...................................................................................164 4.4.7.3 Those Who Moderately Satisfied with Online

Counselling Session ...............................................................166 4.5 Summary .....................................................................................................166

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ........................................168 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................168 5.2 Implications and Contributions of the Study ..............................................178 5.3 Testing Rival Explanations .........................................................................179

5.6 Conclusions .................................................................................................180

xii

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................183

APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY ....................................................................................195 APPENDIX B: AUDIT TRAIL ...............................................................................196

APPENDIX C: INFORMED CONSENT ...............................................................197

APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL ..........................................................198 APPENDIX E: TRANSCRIPTION OF FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION

SAMPLE .........................................................................................200

APPENDIX F: INTER-RATER RELIABILITY TEST .......................................211 APPENDIX G: TRANSCRIPTION OF STUDY RESPONDENTS .....................224 APPENDIX H: ATLAS.ti REFERENCES DIAGRAMS ......................................271

xiii

LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Page No.

‎1.1 Previous Studies Related to Online Counselling 18

‎2.1 Rules and Regulations on Informed Consent of

International Accreditation and Professional Bodies 43

‎2.2 Features of Mobile Chat Applications 61

‎3.1 Inter-Rater Agreement Calculation 82

xiv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Page No.

‎1.1 Malaysian Internet Usage in April 2013 3

‎1.2 Malaysia Digital Audience in January 2012 4

‎1.3 Google.com Results on “Online Counselling” Terms 7

‎1.4 Mobile Users’ Time Spent in Apps 10

‎1.5 Malaysian’s Internet Activities in 2013 15

‎2.1 Statistic of Internet Users in Malaysia (2000 – July 2016) 53

‎2.2 Statistic of World Internet Users (1993 – July 2016) 54

‎2.3 Mobile Users and Desktop User (2007 – 2015) 55

‎2.4 Devices Used to Access Internet 56

‎2.5 Online Activities of Internet User Age 16 – 24 Years Old 57

‎2.6 History of Social Media 63

xv

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

Diagram No. Page No.

‎3.1 Process of Collecting Data 78

‎4.1 Source of Information 86

‎4.2 Preferred Medium 90

‎4.3 Reasons for Choosing the Medium 95

‎4.4 Concept of Amanah 100

‎4.5 Respondents Face-To-Face Experiences 109

‎4.6 Advantages of Both Face-to-Face and Online Counselling

Session from Respondents’ Perspectives 110

‎4.7 Disadvantages of Face-to-Face and Online Counselling

Session 116

‎4.8 Respondent’s Perception on Online Counselling Session 120

‎4.9 Openness in Online Counselling Sessions 124

‎4.10 Informed Consent in Online Counselling 127

‎4.11 Respondents Online Counselling Session Experience 134

‎4.12 Ethical Issues in Online Counselling Session 138

‎4.13 Ethics to be Observed in Online Counselling Session 144

‎4.14 Promoting Ethical Values in Online Counselling Session 148

‎4.15 Respondents Preferred Practice between Face-to-Face or

Online Counselling Session 153

‎4.16 Promoting Online Counselling to Colleagues 159

‎4.17 Respondents’ Satisfaction Level on Online Counselling

Session 162

‎5.1 Theoretical Framework of Ethical Guidelines in

Counselling 169

xvi

‎5.2 Theoretical Framework of Ethical Guidelines in

Counselling 170

2

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

With the advancement of technology, communication had entered a new horizon with

the rapid development of the internet usage that immensely brought changes into

people’s lives. The internet continuously brought people from diverse social

backgrounds engage in the virtual world. Bashaiar (2009) asserted that technologies

brought changes in how people interact through information and communication

technologies (ICT) by bringing people closer creating openness and connectedness at

all time hence making this is a new experience to all.

According to Jamaludin, Muhammad and Abd Rasid (2000) the Internet was

first introduced in Malaysia back in 1987 by Rang KoM (Rangkaian Komputer

Malaysia). During the early stage of Rang KoM, local universities were amongst its

highest users. According to the National IT Council Malaysia (NITC) (2008), the

number of the internet users in Malaysia had increased tremendously from 18 000 and

778 000 users in 1990 and 1995 respectively to 10,040,000 in 2005.

An info graphic from www.talented.com.my taken from

“www.effectivemeasure.com” on internet user in Malaysia indicated the accessibility

and facts about Malaysian’s internet usage in April 2013 which is as shown below.

3

Source: http://www.talented.com.my/malaysia-internet-users/

Figure 1.1 Malaysian Internet Usage in April 2013

Malaysia Budget 2014 that was presented by Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the

Prime Minister of Malaysia on October 25, 2013 revealed 25 million internet users in

2015 as compared to 18 million in 2012 (Berita Harian, 2013) according to The

Economic Report 2013/2014 that was prepared by the Ministry of Finance. The rapid

growth of internet user in Malaysia and the entire world brought great impacts in all

aspects of today’s life. Counselling has been experiencing the impacts thus opens a

new paradigm in providing services to the community. This is shown in the following

figure from http://amanz.my/ (2013).

4

Source:http://amanz.my/2012/02/lebih-32-pengguna-malaysia-mengakses-internet-

melalui-peranti-mudah-alih/

Figure 1.2 Malaysia Digital Audience in January 2012

Counselling is to provide and develop the appropriate services to the public

accordingly. In the context of counselling services in university, counsellors are

responsible to provide counselling services that are able to cater various needs of

students. The services include career development, personal growth development,

decision making and healthy living style. In providing advanced counselling services,

counsellors can benefit the rapid growth from Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) by manipulating potential clients who are not strangers to all the

gadgets and internet tools. They apply technological devices as medium to

communicate and interact with people around despite of proximity.

To start of the study, “Counselling” in Counsellors Act 1998 (Act 580) and

regulations is defined as “systematic process of helping relationship based on

psychological principle performed by a registered counsellor in accordance with the

5

counselling code of ethics to achieve a voluntary favorable holistic change,

development and adjustment of the client such that the change, development and

adjustment will continue throughout the lifespan of the client”. (International Law

Book Services (ILBS), 2005).

Although counselling is commonly associated with face-to-face interaction

since its inception, the advancement of technology brought by the internet widens the

horizon on how people seek help from counsellors. Occasionally, the counselling

professionals feel the need of having an alternative mean of conventional session as

the impacts of communication technology on the counselling process itself becomes

more apparent. Counsellors make the effort of moving forward in adopting new

approaches to provide better services to clients. These include the involvement of the

internet use in meeting with clients. In the present context, people are looking for a

fast, cost effective, reliable, solution-based and conducive environment where they

can share their problems with someone reliable.

King, Spooner and Reid (2003) in their study on online psychotherapy-

efficacy,indicates that online counselling is defined as a counselling session that

concerns with the interaction between counsellor-client’s relationship via the internet

through social web, chat room, electronic mail (e-mail), real-time chatting and

teleconferencing. In addition, online counselling provides new features in reaching the

clients such as the ability to reach long distance client, ability to keep records in full,

low cost service and low threat are among the factors that contribute to the popularity

of the internet usage worldwide (Young, 2005; King, Spooner and Reid, 2003 and

Young, 2003).

Furthermore, the definition of online counselling session has numerous terms

(Michael, David, Aaron & Susan, 2005) used to refer to the usage of internet in

6

providing online session. Unfortunately there has not been a specific term (Mallen &

Vogel, 2005) to signify this medium of session. For the purpose of this study, the

researcher used Google, PsychINFO and Yahoo to search the following keywords:

online counselling, Computer mediated communication (Michael, David, Aaron &

Susan, 2005) online therapy, counselling and internet supported therapeutic

intervention (Azy, Britt & Judith, 2009). From the search, the researcher found that

the usages of “online counselling” are widely used to indicate this medium of service

based on the results showed in Google search engine. Online counselling hits

146,000,000 results as compared to online therapy (97,500,000 results), Internet

supported therapeutic intervention (4,040,000 results) and computer mediated

communication (1,770,000 results). Based on the search finding, the researcher

decided to use the term online counselling as the main keyword of the study by not

neglecting other terms in defining this study. Nickelson (1998) suggested that the term

online counselling is properly used because of the nature of the setting does not occur

in an office setting with both counsellor and client in the same room or office but

across a certain distance. The followings are the screen print of the search using

www.google.com as on 27th

November 2014:

7

Source: www.google.com

Figure 1.3 Google.com Results on “Online Counselling” Terms

Google.com was used to retrieve and search for information throughout this

study as proposed by Taylor (2005) and Jamali and Asadi (2010) as the main search

engine due to its popularity and largely based on its retrieval speed, even when words

are spelt incorrectly. In addition, another special feature of Google is its simplicity

that makes it easier to access and use by internet users. Holscher and Strube (2000)

8

mentioned that by utilizing nothing more than a blank white page and a search box, it

will potentially lead to an ‘information overload’. This condition will make it difficult

to users to manage and deal with when too many information are presented at a time

(Snijders, Matzat & Reips, 2012).

In order to look for numerous terms of online counselling, the researcher dealt

with thousands of references. Having said that Google provides millions of

information to be accessed quickly and easily, the process of sorting information may

cause difficulties in getting the relevant and precise information needed (Shadbolt &

Berners-Lee, 2008). To find the term “online counselling” requires the researcher to

go through hundreds of pages that are irrelevant in search results prompted Google to

direct user to ‘PageRank’ system which applied a mathematical algorithm. It

determines which page is more important based on the number of “like” and then

sorted based on the relevancy of the page from the most relevant to the least (Shadbolt

& Berners-Lee, 2008).The system further assigned a PageRank of 10 to a page that

has the most accessed by internet user and a 1 if it has a very low chance (Petrovic,

2011).

Beside the said criteria, Morahan-Martin (2004) believed that the probability

of certain ‘placement fee’ paid to ensure that the first page showing the intended

websites even though it does not benefit the user. Cline and Haynes (2001) concludes

that even though ‘PageRank’ system is being used to simplify the search process, the

quality of information is doubted with some indications that can be used to support

their finding. Among the indicators are the author’s details, credentials and how

frequent the site is maintained and updated by the webmaster. It is important that all

the indicators will influence the users in looking for information regarding the online

services or any other information on help seeking services (Rains & Karmikel, 2009).

9

However, as a primary source of information in this study, the internet sources

will have its limitation by not accepting all the information even though it is easily

found because it may not achieved the acquired standard needed. But for youngsters,

they do not question much about the credibility of the sources and proceed with the

website only on the basis of the short summaries given (Brand-Gruwel, Wopereis &

Walraven, 2009). Therefore, it is important for counsellors to equip themselves with

the understanding and knowledge to use the search engine strategies and quality of

information to reach the youngsters who are looking for counselling services via

internet or from mobile chat applications.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The rapid growth of technology especially in the e-literate among people has brought

impact to the practice of counselling services as a whole. According to the United

States of National Board of Certified Counsellor (NBCC) (2001), the practice of

online counselling was defined as any form of asynchronous and/or synchronous

distance interaction between counsellors and clients by using e-mail, chat and video

conferencing as medium to communicate and interact. However, according to Ibrahim

(2009) the use of online as a medium for session has become popular among

counsellors and clients in recent years. Online counselling session is the new way in

providing more conducive and extending services to clients. With the advancement of

internet technologies, counsellors can now assist clients with busy schedules, limits

travelling to the counsellor’s office, reduce the fear of going out in public and avoids

privacy related concerns. Such reasons limit the face-to-face interaction between

counsellor and client (Siti & Azizah, 2011).