Intervention Outcomes, Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy With DHH Students in Universities

This article reports the impact of an online spiritual counseling (OSC) program in mitigating anxiety and building self-esteem and academic self-efficacy among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students in universities. Compared to online relaxation sessions, the OSC was more effective. Male DHH students and those whose parents were highly qualified exhibited less anxiety and higher self-esteem and self-efficacy at pretest (T1). Post-test (T2) male students having better educated parents responded better to the OSC. T2 anxiety was lower and self-esteem and academic self-efficacy was higher for liberal arts students and having stay-at-home parents compared with science and commerce students and whose parents worked outside home. Self-esteem was also positively moderated by better economic class and presence of siblings. Intervention compliance in terms of regular attendance and self-practice mediated the relationship between sociodemographic predictors and outcomes. Results support the biopsychosocial model and encourage the implementation of the OSC with DHH university students.