The effect of counselling programmes involving expressive activities with semi-structured groups on self-concealment levels of adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of counselling programmes based on expressive activities with semi-structured groups, on the self-concealment levels of adolescents. The research was carried out using a pretest-posttest control group design. The dependent variable of the present research, is the psychological counselling programme conducted with a semi-structured group based on expressive activities. The research was carried out with 18 6th and 7th grade secondary school students (10 female and 8 male). The Self-Concealment Scale was used as data collection tool. In this research, the use of nonparametric tests was preferred, as the sample was smaller than 30. Therefore, it was determined whether there is a statistically significant difference between the arithmetic means of the experimental and control groups' pretest, posttest and trail test scores by use of Wilcoxon signed-rank test, to determine the effects of a psychological counselling programme with semi-structured group based on expressive activities. Also, it was determined whether there was a statistically significant relationship between the pretest, posttest and trail intervention scores received by the intervention and control group students from the Self-Concealment Scale, using Mann-Whitney U test. The research results revealed that the "psychological counselling programme based on expressive activities with semi-structured groups" was significantly effective in alleviation of self-concealment levels, and this effect was also maintained in follow-up evaluations. The obtained results are discussed in the light of related literature findings and recommendations are proposed accordingly.