Enhancement of Proactive Coping Strategies of LGBTQ Students Through Individual Counseling

Abstract

This research article aimed to: 1. investigate the level of proactive coping among gender-diverse lower secondary school students and 2. compare their proactive coping strategies before and after participation in an individual counseling program. A mixed-methods approach integrating quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. In the quantitative phase, the participants consisted of 436 lower secondary school students from a school in Bangkok. Data were collected using a proactive coping scale and analyzed using descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations. In the intervention phase, five students whose scores fell at or below the 25th percentile were purposively selected to participate in an eight-session individual counseling program. Differences between pretest and posttest scores were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Ethical approval procedures were followed, and informed consent was obtained from the school, parents, and participating students.

The findings revealed that the overall level of proactive coping was moderate ( = 2.75, SD = 0.36). Goal setting and proactive self-regulation showed the highest mean score ( = 2.85), whereas avoidance coping had the lowest mean score ( = 2.59). These findings suggest that students possessed a moderate capacity for proactive self-management but still lacked strong strategic planning skills and effective reduction of avoidant behaviors. Following participation in the counseling program, students demonstrated significantly higher proactive coping scores (Z = −2.023, p = .043). Qualitative findings supported the quantitative results, indicating improved self-acceptance, a shift from perceiving stress as a threat to viewing it as a challenge, and more concrete proactive life planning.