The effectiveness of a proposed counseling program in reducing mental wandering and digital stress among the students of the scientific departments in Afif, Shaqra University

The research aimed at revealing the effectiveness of a proposed counseling program in reducing mental wandering and digital stress among students of the Scientific Departments in Afif, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. An intentional sample of students who showed high levels of mental wandering and digital stress in the exploratory study of the research problem was chosen. The number of the sample was (80) male and female students, who were divided into two groups, the first is the control group that was made up of 40 students and the other was the experimental group that consisted of 40 male and female students. The proposed counseling program was applied on the experimental group, and it consisted of (7) sessions. The research employed a descriptive approach and a quasi-experimental method. The study employed two instruments: the Digital Stress Scale, developed by the researcher, and the Mental Wandering Scale. The results of the study showed the effectiveness and positive impact of the proposed counseling program in reducing both mental wandering as well as digital stress among students of the experimental group compared to the control group and by post program measurement compared to the pre-measurement of the program. The results also revealed a direct correlation between digital stress and mental wandering. The research recommended the need to activate counseling and guidance programs to solve the technical and psychological problems to which the students are exposed, in addition to organizing courses and workshops for all employees in the educational sector to train them on the mechanisms of confronting the problems of students' behaviors associated with this age of information and technology as an attempt to improve learning outcomes.