Online counselling reach out services to alleviate stress among students during online distance learning / Nurul Fitriah Alias, Sharifah Muzlia Syed Mustafa and Lina Mursyidah Hamzah

Students in Malaysian higher education were forced to engage in learning using online distance approach due to restricted movement control order since the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic. The acclaim often given to online learning due its practicality, convenience and usage of latest technology has been dampened by the challenges and stress of online distance learning that students began to show after a while. This paper reports the level of comfort and satisfaction students perceived about learning from home. Three brief surveys were completed by 281, 132, and 54 students from the faculty who rated their level of stress, the importance of creating the reach-out blog, and the feedback on the blog after it was created. In terms of experiencing stress during this mode of learning, the majority of the respondents felt stress of various levels with virtual mode of distance learning. Students rated highest their sources of stress as being self-autonomous (learning independently, motivation, interest), followed by self-management (managing time, tasks, classes), home environment, IT facilities, faculty support, peer support, lecturers support, and last but not least family support. Students agreed that there should be a clear process to help students in need either face-to-face or online. The respondents all agreed that a counselling blog was a good idea for students to access information and seek early help. The faculty had taken a quick initiative to create a counselling blog as a venue for students to get information relating to stress and mental health. This step was received well by the students. It is obvious that online distance learning has taken a toll on students' mental, emotional and social wellbeing. The faculty must be aware of their students’ state of mental health and take appropriate initiatives to reach out to students in need.