The Effectiveness of a Group-Counseling Program in Improving Psychological Adjustment and Self-Concept of Abused Children

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a group counseling program in improving psychological adjustment and self-concept of abused children. For that purpose the research used the psychological adjustment problem scale, the self-concept scale, and developed a group counseling program, consisting of ten counseling sessions, which included many interventions methods, depending on behavioral and cognitive theory. Every counseling session ranged from 60-80 minutes. The sample of the study included 30 children, aged from 12-17 years, who were exposed to a physical, sexual and psychological abuse or neglect were taken from O’sama Iben Zeid center and Omar Iben Abdul Aziz center, in Yajouz district in Zarka for caring and nurturing. The sample was divided randomly into two groups, one experimental group, and the other control group, each of them included 15 children. The research applied a pre-test on the two groups, the scale of psychological scale, and self-concept scale .The experimental group was exposed to the counseling program, which includes the behavioral and cognitive theory methods; the control group did not receive any training. After finishing the program, the post-test was applied on the two groups. After two weeks from ending the program, retention was estimated on both psychological adjustment and self-concepts tests were applied. The study results indicated statistically significant differences at α ≤ 0.05 between the experimental group, and the controlled group, on the post test and the retention, in the psychological adjustment problem scale, and self-concept scale. The experimental group showed improvement in the psychological adjustment, and self-concept, compared with the control group. The study concluded a positive effect to the counseling program, which was developed for improving the psychological adjustment and self-concept of abused children. The study concluded some recommendations including further studies on abused female and male children in different areas of Jordan.It is necessary to adopt the counseling program used in the study by all concerned sectors of the society that deal with abused children.