Abstract
Statement of the problem: Children and adolescents from a culturally disadvantaged group encounter many challenges. We developed a group counseling program based on positive psychology for them. The purpose of this study is to examine effects of the program. Method: Seventy-five participants attending an elementary school or a junior high school were recruited. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, and participants were assigned to either an experimental group (n = 36) or a control group (n = 39). All participants were administered tests before, after, and three weeks after the intervention. Post group individual interviews were conducted. The ANCOVA analysis was performed. Before running analysis, participants were divided into the child group (n = 35) and the adolescent group (n = 40). We also used qualitative content analysis to analyze the interviewing data. Results: An immediate effect was found on interpersonal satisfaction (F = 7.38, p < .05), and three-week effect was observed on life satisfaction (F = 9.54, p .05). Additionally, participants identified "receiving positive feedback from other members," "trying out new interpersonal behaviors in group," and "developing positive relationships with the group leader" were most salient experiences. They also reported improvements of interpersonal skills, emotion management abilities, and self-understanding. Conclusion: Based on results, providing positive-psychology based counseling groups was recommended for culturally disadvantaged children. However, more studies are necessary to explore suitable program for adolescents.
Author Information
Ying-Fen Wang, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Yi-Hsuan Liu, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
An-Chi Chen, Northwestern University, United States
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