44. The role of tourism activities combined with psychological counseling in relieving students' psychological pressure

Abstract Background At present, students generally face multiple pressures such as academic competition, interpersonal relationships and future planning. Psychological pressure is increasingly prominent, which seriously affects their learning efficiency and physical and mental development. The traditional intervention mainly focuses on psychological counseling and group counseling in school, and the way is relatively simple. Some students have insufficient motivation to participate or the intervention effect is difficult to last. As an experiential and situational way of physical and mental adjustment, tourism can promote pressure release through environmental transformation, physical activities and natural contact. Combined with structured psychological counseling, it is expected to form a more attractive and effective intervention model. In order to test the effect of structured tourism activities combined with group psychological counseling on students' psychological stress, this study compared the intervention effect of this combined program with that of single psychological counseling and non intervention control. Methods 180 students with high scores in psychological stress screening from September 2023 to January 2024 in a university were selected as the research objects, and were divided into the experimental group (n = 90) and the control group (n = 90) by using the random number table. The control group received routine campus psychological support services, including a monthly psychological lecture and open psychological consultation. Under the collaborative leadership of professional psychological teachers and tour guides, the experimental group organized a one-day themed outdoor tourism activity every three weeks, and carried out one-hour structured group psychological counseling before and after the activity, focusing on stress cognitive reconstruction, emotional expression and group support, which lasted for 12 weeks. Chinese Perceived Stress Scales (CPSS) and Student Life Stress Inventory (SLSI) were used to assess before the intervention, 6 weeks after the intervention, and 12 weeks after the intervention, and students' subjective feedback was collected. Results There was no significant difference in CPSS and SLSI scores between the two groups at baseline (p>.05). After 12 weeks of intervention, the CPSS score of the experimental group decreased to (22.4 ± 5.6) points, and the SLSI score decreased to (44.3 ± 7.2) points; The CPSS score of the control group was (28.9 ± 6.8), and the SLSI score was (50.1 ± 8.4). The score of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group (p<.01). In terms of stress relief rate (based on the CPSS score reduction of ≥25%), the experimental group was 72.2% (65/90), and the control group was 46.7% (42/90), with a statistically significant difference (p<.001). Discussion The combination of tourism activities and psychological counseling can effectively relieve students' psychological pressure, reduce their anxiety level, and have a high degree of participation acceptance and subjective satisfaction. This model integrates experience, support and education, and can be used as an effective complement to student pressure management. It is suggested to pay attention to the integration of activity design and psychological goals in the implementation, and further explore the impact of different tourism forms and activity frequency on long-term psychological adjustment ability in future research.