Abstract

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effects of solution-focused group counseling on the school attitude, self-esteem and hope in school maladjusted adolescents. Methods: The research design of this study was a non-equivalent control group pre-post test design. Thirty middle school students referred to a community mental health center in G city for school maladjustment from a school and welfare center were assigned to the experimental group and thirty middle school students in care for school maladjustment at a welfare center were assigned to the control group. The solution-focused group counseling for the experimental group was conducted once a week for 90 minutes during 6 weeks. The data were collected from December 10, 2003 to May 23, 2004. The data was analyzed by x2-test, t-test and paired t-test using the SAS program. Results: 1) School attitude increased significantly after solution-focused group counseling (t=6.036 p=.001). 2) Self-esteem increased significantly after solution focused group counseling (t=2.705, p=.010). 3) Hope increased significantly after solution-focused group counseling (t=3.671, p=.001). Conclusion: Solution-focused group counseling appears to be a very effective intervention for school maladjusted adolescents by increasing self-esteem, positive school attitude, hope and coping with problems.

Keywords

• solution-focused group counseling;
• school maladjusted adolescents;
• school attitude;
• self-esteem;
• hope