Being motivated is a major factor contributing to student excellence in their studies and success in life. Students face various academic pressures from the education system itself or from environmental factors that can impact their level of motivation to achieve excellence. This study explores achievement motivational levels among university students in Malaysia from the four aspects of gender, race, place of residence and academic performance (CGPA). This survey-type study uses a simple random sampling method involving research subjects comprising 200 students (n=200). The research instrument used is the Achievement Motivation Test (AMT) introduced by Abu Bakar Nordin (1995). Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 26 software. An independent sample t-test analysis was used to identify the differences in achievement motivation levels based on the four aspects mentioned. Overall, the study found no difference in the level of student motivation based on gender (t= 0.254, p> 0.05), race (t= 0.922, p> 0.05), place of residence (t= 1.836, p> 0.05), and academic performance (t=1.623, p> 0.05). However, some differences in motivation levels were found between students with low (M = 2.8) and high (M = 3.0) CGPAs. Thus, it can be concluded that motivational levels have a major role in ensuring student success and excellence. This study can form the basis for designing motivational modules or guidelines in public universities and the Ministry of Education for enhancing student achievement.

Depression among university students is becoming a serious health issue in the country. Their vulnerability to higher rates of stressors has a negative impact on them as students as well as on their lives. This study investigates the level of academic stress and depression and the relationship between them among medical students at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). Questionnaires were given to 133 medical students at USIM comprising 3 sections covering demographic information, an academic stress inventory (SSI), and the Beck depression inventory (BDI). An analysis using Pearson’s correlation coefficient found a positive and significant relationship between the two variables. This study provides information to counselors on the level of academic stress and depression among students, especially medical students. It also aims to increase awareness among university authorities and parents on the importance of maintaining the mental health of students and children.

The pro-poor growth and environmental sustainability are the twin agendas widely discussed in environmental science literature. The technology-embodied growth helps to attain both agendas through knowledge sharing and technology transfer, which trickle down to the poor income group and improve their living standards. Hence, the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is deemed crucial in boosting economic growth and is under deep consideration to establish its role in reducing poverty and environmental pollution. The current study examines the long-run relationship between ICTs, poverty reduction, and ecological degradation in Pakistan using time series data from 1975–2018. The short- and long-run parameter estimates were obtained through the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model for robust inferences. The results substantiate the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve relationship between income and emissions with a turning point at US$1000 in the short-run and US$800 in the long-run. The results confirmed the decisive intervention of ICTs factors in the poverty reduction, i.e., computer communications and mobile-telephone-broadband subscriptions support to reduce poverty incidence with the mediation of inbound FDI in a country. As far as income inequality is concerned, it shows that computer services support minimizing income inequality via a channel of high–technology exports in a country. The technology embodied emissions verified in the long-run, where mobile-telephone-broadband subscriptions increase carbon emissions. Finally, mobile-telephone-broadband subscriptions and inbound FDI both are significant contributors to amplify the country’s economic growth. The results conclude that poverty reduction and environmental sustainability agenda are achieved by developing green ICT infrastructure in a country.

The challenges faced by the counsellors-in-training are enormous. Therefore, investigating emotional quotient (EQ) and counselling self-efficacy among counsellors-in-training is crucial. This study aimed to examine the EQ and counselling self-efficacy levels among counsellors-in-training and investigate the relationships between these variables. A total of 373 counselling students from three universities in the Northern Peninsular of Malaysia have participated in this study. This study involved a quantitative method using survey as a data collection technique and also employed a convenience sampling procedure. There were two questionnaires used in this study, namely Bar-On emotional quotient inventory (EQ-i) and counselling self-estimate inventory. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between EQ and counselling self-efficacy which all sub-constructs for both measures are well-associated with each other. In conclusion, these two variables are essential to ensure counselling students would move toward a better developing identity of counsellors-in-training and encourage the growth of professional competency among trainee counsellors in the future. Hence, it is vital for the government to ensure that quality counselling services should be provided for the community to deal with this problem.

The crisis faced by foreign students need to be addressed to ensure that the goal of completing their study is achieved successfully. Financial issue has been identified as the main problem. Hence, this study was done to explore major issues faced by foreign students throughout their life in campus. This is a qualitative study using interview sessions as a study design. The subject in this study is a 21 year-old Indonesian student who faced stress and loss of concentration in her study due to financial problem. This study revealed that the financial issue is the common theme experienced by the respondent. This is due to the relevancy that money is one of the most important things to survive in life, and it has become a ‘mediator’ for resources toward basic needs in life. Reality therapy and in particular the techniques of WDEP and SAMIC was employed in the counselling session to help deal with the respondent’s issues. Indeed, this study highlighted the success of using Reality Therapy to help the respondent in making sound decisions to solve issues faced. It was also noted that the therapist plays an active role in helping the respondent to be aware and responsible in solving her issues.

The most widely used social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have changed the way of communication between people especially amongst youth. It has been identified that individuals who spent more time online experienced more symptoms of depression. Therefore, this study was done to identify the level of depression and to find out the relationship between social media and depression among undergraduate students. This is a quantitative study using a survey method involving 150 students of local university in Malaysia. The questionnaire consists of three sections which are demographic information, Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form (SMAS-SF) and Beck Depression Inventory 2nd Edition (BDI-II). The finding indicates that majority of the respondents (44% ) have minimal depression while only 13.3% has severe depression. Pearson correlation test has been employed to investigate the relationship between social media and depression. The result showed that there is a correlation between social media and depression, r=0.199, p=<0.01. In conclusion, it depicts that social media is significantly related and have positive relationship to depression among students. This study provides valuable information for counsellors and lecturers to identify students who have suffered from depression related to social media use and help in managing the students.

Internet addiction among children has become a global health problem, including Malaysia. It raised public awareness of its increasing number. Most of the internet addiction risk factors relate to parents and their awareness regarding this issue. Therefore, this study was done to explore family awareness of child’s internet addiction and to identify the role of the family in overcoming internet addiction among children. This is a qualitative study using a scoping review design. The articles were obtained from the Academic Search Premier@EBSCOhost university database published from 2015 to 2023. A total of 38 articles were selected from the EBSCO-Host together with other relevant and significant articles from earlier years. Findings revealed that family awareness in term of understanding role of family members (parent’s role, sibling’s role, child’s role) is very important in facing internet addiction among children. Besides that, there are five elements in managing child internet addiction which include controlling and monitoring children's internet use, limiting time and space in children's internet use, the concept of psychological reward and punishment in internet use, application of moral and spiritual values, and joint involvement of parents and children in social activities. In conclusion, this study can be a guidance to the involved party such as educators or community in dealing and helping the family or parents who are facing with the issue of child’s internet addiction.

Political challenges, unfairness, and dishonesty are the governing issues that need substantial reforms to improve the high regulatory quality standards. The study's objective is to examine the impact of corruption, violence, and the rule of law on Pakistan's regulatory control. The study used four forecasting techniques, i.e., Root Mean Square Error (RSER), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), and Theil inequality coefficient, on the available data series from 1996–2019. The study first obtained the forecast factors of the stated variables by using the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) technique and then used these variables in the least-squares regression technique to obtain the forecast parameter estimates. The simulation results show that corruption, violence, and the rule of law would likely negatively affect the country's regulatory control. The ex-ante analysis shows that the corruption level increases sharply reaches its highest point, and becomes constant. The rule of law initially decreases and then begins to rise steeply. Regulatory control initially decreases and is likely to increase at a decreasing rate. Finally, political stability is likely to decrease over the time horizon. Innovation accounting matrix estimates show that corruption would likely change the country's regulatory control, followed by the rule of law and violence in the next ten years. The study is the first to explore the dynamics of governance indicators in an inter-temporal setting. The study concludes that the country should devise broad-based governance reform policies to eliminate the high incidence of corruption, violence, and injustice and move forward towards implementing regulatory control for sustained growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic which strike Malaysia and worldwide is a nightmare for most individuals. It brought various implications that in turn change the pattern of human’s life. There are some individuals whofail to adapt causing them to experience emotional disturbances that contribute to mental health problems. It also contributes to various social problems including drug abuse, domestic violence, divorce and others. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the causes and effects of sedative drug abuse as well as to examine the level of effectiveness of counseling interventions and coping strategies in solving this problem. This study was conducted qualitatively involving interview sessions and individualcounseling sessions to one of the detainees in Kajang Prison who was involved in sedative drug abuse. The implementation of counseling sessions through Motivational Interviewing (MI) approach and Reality Therapy were conducted. The use of Motivational Interviewing in the initial session is seen to be effective in increasing client motivation. While the use of reality theory is seen to help clients in making decisions, plan and taking action. In conclusion, the right and proper counselling approach can helpclients in the issue of drug addiction as well as the selection of coping strategies in dealing with the problems faced.

The COVID-19 pandemic which strike Malaysia and worldwide is a nightmare for most individuals. It brought various implications that in turn change the pattern of human’s life. There are some individuals who fail to adapt causing them to experience emotional disturbances that contribute to mental health problems. It also contributes to various social problems including drug abuse, domestic violence, divorce and others. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the causes and effects of sedative drug abuse as well as to examine the level of effectiveness of counseling interventions and coping strategies in solving this problem. This study was conducted qualitatively involving interview sessions and individual counseling sessions to one of the detainees in Kajang Prison who was involved in sedative drug abuse. The implementation of counseling sessions through Motivational Interviewing (MI) approach and Reality Therapy were conducted. The use of Motivational Interviewing in the initial session is seen to be effective in increasing client motivation. While the use of reality theory is seen to help clients in making decisions, plan and taking action. In conclusion, the right and proper counselling approach can help clients in the issue of drug addiction as well as the selection of coping strategies in dealing with the problems faced.

Adolescents between the ages of 13 until 17 begin to get addicted to drugs after being exposed to smoking habit at a young age. These students are also involved with truancy and low academic achievement. Therefore, this case study was conducted to look at the role of the family head in particular the effect of a father's smoking habits on the adolescent’s involvement towards smoking cigarette and drug addiction. The student involved in this case is a Form 5 student referred by the Students Affairs Department due to absenteeism from school and was caught vaping in the school’s toilet. The University of Rhode Island of Change Scale (URICA) inventory was used to measure the client's readiness to change and career interest (Inventori Minat Kerjaya, IMK) to help client in career planning after leaving the school. The counselor conceptualized the client’s case using Reality Therapy. The findings show that the influence of father’s smoking habit may increases a son’s desire to try cigarettes and in turn is involved in a bigger problem of drug addiction. Therefore, parents need to be a positive role model and act as a protective factor in preventing adolescent from getting involved with smoking and drug addiction.

Kaunseling kelompok merupakan satu bentuk perhubungan menolong yang memerlukan interaksi antara ahli kelompok. Terdapat elemen yang perlu dipupuk dalam kalangan ahli kelompok bagi memastikan matlamat yang ditetapkan boleh dicapai. Kejeleketan adalah merupakan pencapaian kesepaduan yang erat dalam kalangan individu yang seterusnya dapat menghasilkan nilai kekitaan. Pembentukan perasaan ini sesama ahli kelompok adalah satu keperluan penting dalam memastikan pelaksanaan kaunseling kelompok berkesan. Oleh itu, kajian ini adalah bertujuan untuk mengkaji faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pembentukan kejeleketan dalam sesi kaunseling kelompok. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kajian kualitatif menerusi analisis kandungan terhadap jurnal-jurnal berindeks tinggi seperti Scopus, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) dan Science Direct. Analisis yang telah dijalankan menjelaskan antara faktor penyumbang kepada terbentuknya kejeleketan dalam sesi kaunseling kelompok adalah interaksi, penerimaan ahli, kebersamaan, saiz kelompok, perkongsian rasa, konflik dan sikap. Justeru, faktor-faktor ini perlu diberi perhatian secara jitu oleh kaunselor dalam mengendalikan sesi kaunseling kelompok dengan berkesan.

The father's presence and involvement in a child’s development are as important as the mother's role in nurturing the child. A positive father involvement is essential to healthy social, emotional, and academic development at all stages of a child’s development. However, in Malaysia, data on fathers’ impact on children’s psychosocial development are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain views from children and parents on the need to develop a fatherhood module. The data were collected through a survey using a set of questionnaires comprising the Father Presence Questionnaire (FPQ), Inventory of Father Involvement (IFI), and needs analysis questions to parents. A total of 483 children and 60 parents participated in the study. For the father’s presence, the children’s response has the highest mean (42.96) on the father’s relationship with his father scale, and for father involvement, the highest mean is in the dimension of giving attention (25.01). Ninety five percent (95 %) of the parents who responded to the needs analysis questions stated that a father should take a specific course on fathering. The topics that should be covered include communication, the role and responsibilities of the father, fathering skills, child development, and the knowledge and skills of new fathers. The results of the study suggest the need to develop the fatherhood module, which can help fathers to enhance their understanding, knowledge, and skills to be effective fathers in the development of children.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic which strikes Malaysia has now entered the endemic phase, the implications from it remain especially in mental health aspects. Students are a group that is at risk of experiencing stress due to the changes that occurred in the educational system. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the impact of online learning on students’ stress during pandemic COVID-19 in Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. The total number of respondents involved was 360 students. The Student Stress Inventory (SSI) has been used to identify the level of student’s stress among undergraduate students. Descriptive statistical analysis in the form of percentage frequency, Pearson correlation and t-test were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26 software. Analysis showed that majority of the student had moderate stress score of student stress as the results of online learning. Independent t-test was used to identify the gender differences in terms of stress as a result of online learning. This study shows there was significant difference between males and females in aspect stress. Besides that, the study was concluded that there was significant impact and small effect on students’ academic achievement before and during Movement Control Order. The implication of the study, suggestions, and future direction was also discussed.

The development of creativity and innovation is needed in preparing today’s generations to face challenges in their future. However, the main focus in creativity and innovation development process is on cognitive, affective, imagination and practises (psychomotor) that allow total freedom for individual to present their product. In fact, unfortunately this will make them losing their own direction. Therefore, this article tries to integrate between the development of creativity and innovation with spiritual element, which the vital component and the main guidance for decision making in any innovation process. Indeed, this spiritual element is closely related with one of the basic concepts in Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, (TRIZ) which is ideality. TRIZ has been introduced in Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) since 2017 where this theory proposed four basic concepts in inventive problem solving. The concept of ideality opens up an opportunity for researcher to integrate and prove that the concept is related with the element of spirituality. By inculcate the spiritual element in innovative process, this will eventually lead to the development of spiritual intelligence of God-consciousness, which is one of the core value in UMP. It is also a basic principle to guide our young generation about the real meaning of freedom and at the same time it acts as a main value in developing students’ soft skills. What’s important, this value also will give a good direction in innovation and educate our students to make more effective decision in problem solving process as what is emphasized in this article.

Kesejahteraan keluarga dalam negara membangun seperti Malaysia merupakan salah satu petunjuk kepada kebahagian sesebuah negara. Kajian kualitatif ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti trend kajian berkaitan kesejahteraan keluarga. Kajian ini berpandukan Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) melibatkan empat fasa iaitu pengenalpastian (identification), seterusnya penapisan (screening), penyemakan kelayakan (eligibility) dan pemeriksaan rangkuman (included). Pangkalan-pangkalan data seperti pangkalan data Academia, pangkalan data Google Scholar dan pangkalan data ProQuest telah digunakan sehingga 26 buah artikel akhir di antara tahun 2018 hingga 2023 mengikut kriteria-kriteria ditetapkan dianalisis. Kajian menunjukkan bahawa dua tema yang dianalisis dan dikelompokkan dalam artikel ini untuk menggambarkan trend focus penyelidikan ini iaitu tahun penerbitan dan negara asal penyelidik dan pendekatan penyelidikan berkaitan kesejahteraan keluarga. Dapatan artikel ini menunjukkan terdapat keperluan mustahak terhadap aspek kesejahteraan keluarga di Malaysia. Oleh yang demikian, tinjauan yang disintesis berkaitan dengan kesejahteraan keluarga ini dapat memberi manfaat kepada penyelidik dengan memberi cadangan bagi penyelidikan masa hadapan.

Kesihatan mental boleh mempengaruhi kesihatan fizikal, kualiti hidup dan produktiviti seseorang. Namun begitu, peningkatan isu kesihatan mental dalam kalangan masyarakat di Malaysia pada hari ini berada pada tahap yang membimbangkan. Tambahan pula, masalah tekanan mental ini memberi kesan yang buruk kepada remaja terutamanya yang boleh membawa kepada kejadian bunuh diri yang semakin meningkat dalam kalangan remaja di Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat tema kajian dan perbincangan tentang tekanan mental melibatkan isu bunuh diri dalam kalangan remaja di Malaysia. Kajian dengan metod tinjauan literatur sistematik atau systematic literature review (SLR) ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan artikel lingkungan tahun 2019-2023 daripada tiga pangkalan data iaitu Research gate, Google Scholar dan Science Direct. Artikel yang telah dikumpul kemudian diteliti bagi memastikan artikel yang dipilih menepati fokus kajian. Sebanyak 22 daripada 1460 artikel telah dipilih untuk dibincangkan dalam kajian ini. Secara keseluruhannya, kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat tiga tema yang boleh diklasifikasikan berkenaan kajian lepas tentang tekanan mental melibatkan isu bunuh diri dalam kalangan remaja di Malaysia. Tema tersebut ialah; 1) kesejahteraan hidup remaja 2) tekanan psikologi remaja 3) isu bunuh diri dalam kalangan remaja. Oleh yang demikian, terdapat keperluan kajian yang menyeluruh seperti kajian mengenai pembangunan model islamik daya tindak keluarga dalam menangani gejala kesihatan mental agar masalah kesihatan mental dapat dikenalpasti dan tindakan segera dapat diambil.

Kajian keberkesanan modul pencegahan penyalahgunaan dadah dan bahan yang berasaskan kerohanian telah dilaksanakan oleh penyelidik kepada belia yang tinggal di sebuah daerah berisiko tinggi di utara semenanjung Malaysia. Objektif utama kajian ini ialah melihat kesan modul kerohanian pencegahan penyalahgunaan dadah terhadap (1) kerohanian, (2) ketegasan kendiri dan (3) pengetahuan mereka terhadap penyalahgunaanbahan dan dadah. Sampel kajian dibahagikan kepada kumpulan eksperimen dan kumpulan kawalan bagi peringkat pra dan pasca. Kajian ini menggunakan rekabentuk Eksperimen Tulen yang melibatkan dua buah kumpulan belia dari Kawasan zon yang berbeza dan setiap kumpulan terdiri daripada 33 orang (kumpulan eksperiman dan kawalan). Intervensi berbentuk psikopendidikan sebanyak 7 sesi pertemuan diberikan kepada kumpulan eksperimen manakala kumpulan kawalan tidak diberi sebarang intervensi. Hasil daripada perbandingan ujian pra dan pasca menunjukkan bahawa terdapat peningkatan nilai min yang signifikan bagi kerohanian (nilai min dari ujian pra = 172.24 dan ujian pasca = 188.12), ketegasan kendiri (nilai min dari ujian pra = 99.48 dan ujian pasca = 106.42) dan pengetahuan tentang penyalahgunaan dadah (nilai min dari ujian pra = 57.59 dan ujian pasca = 65.61) untuk kumpulan eksperimen yang melalui intervensi yang diberikan oleh fasilitator terlatih menggunakan modul kerohanian ini. Hasil keputusan min kumpulan kawalan pulamenunjukkan tiada peningkatan min bagi ketiga-tiga pembolehubah yang dikaji. Daripada hasil keputusan kajian ini boleh dirumuskan bahawa modul MPDKKP dalam pencegahan penyalahgunaan dadah ini dapat membantu para belia dari terjebak dengan penyalahgunaan bahan dan dadah serta menikmati hidup yang lebih positif.

Pencapaian akademik yang baik melambangkan kecemerlangan bagi setiap pelajar. Namun, dalam mencapai kecemerlangan tersebut, antara aspek penting yang harus dihadapi oleh pelajar adalah kebolehan mengawal kebimbangan menghadapi ujian. Justeru, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji perbezaan tahap kebimbangan menghadapi ujian dengan pencapaian Bahasa Arab dalam kalangan pelajar lelaki dan perempuan, tahun tiga jurusan kaunseling, Fakulti Kepimpinan dan Pengurusan, USIM. Kajian ini merupakan kajian kuantitatif menggunakan analisis deskriptif dan inferensi seperti T-test melalui perisian Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) versi 26. Seramai 80 orang pelajar dalam lingkungan umur 18 - 26 tahun ke atas telah dipilih melalui kaedah persampelan bertujuan. Soal selidik yang dikendalikan sendiri untuk kegunaan pengumpulan data yang merangkumi alat ukur Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) dan skor pencapaian bahasa Arab dalam peperiksaan. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan antara lelaki (M = 2.19, SD = 0.44) dan perempuan (M=2.44, SD= 0.51); t (78) = 1.5, p =0.138 dalam kebimbangan menghadapi ujian dan pencapaian bahasa Arab dalam kalangan pelajar kaunseling tahun 3 yang dikaji. Konklusinya, kajian ini dapat memberi kesedaran dan menggalakkan pelajar membuat persediaan lebih awal sekali gus dapat mengurangkan kebimbangan menghadapi ujian. Sebaiknya pencapaian bahasa Arab ditingkatkan dengan bimbingan melalui program bimbingan dan kaunseling akademik yang harus diaktifkan di setiap fakulti terutama sebelum peperiksaan.

Pencapaian akademik yang baik melambangkan kecemerlangan bagi setiap pelajar. Namun, dalam mencapai kecemerlangan tersebut, antara aspek penting yang harus dihadapi oleh pelajar adalah kebolehan mengawal kebimbangan menghadapi ujian. Justeru, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara kebimbangan menghadapi ujian dan pencapaian bahasa Arab dalam kalangan pelajar tahun tiga kaunseling, Fakulti Kepimpinan dan Pengurusan, USIM. Kajian ini merupakan kajian kuantitatif menggunakan analisis deskriptif dan korelasi melalui perisian Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) versi 26. Seramai 80 orang pelajar dalam lingkungan umur 18 - 26 tahun ke atas telah dipilih melalui kaedah persampelan bertujuan. Soal selidik yang dikendalikan sendiri untuk kegunaan pengumpulan data yang merangkumi Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) dan skor pencapaian bahasa Arab dalam peperiksaan. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat korelasi yang signifikan (r (80) = .035, p <.05) antara kebimbangan menghadapi ujian dan pencapaian bahasa Arab dalam kalangan pelajar kaunseling tahun 3 yang dikaji. Konklusinya, kajian ini dapat memberi kesedaran dan menggalakkan pelajar membuat persediaan lebih awal sekaligus dapat mengurangkan kebimbangan menghadapi ujian. Sebaiknya pencapaian bahasa Arab ditingkatkan dengan bimbingan melalui program bimbingan dan kaunseling akademik yang harus diaktifkan di setiap fakulti terutama sebelum peperiksaan.