The Process of Group Counseling Based on Reality Therapy Applied to the Parents of Children with Disabilities

Abstract

The aim of this study was to use a Reality Therapy approach to identify the psychological difficulties and the psychological support requirements of the parents of children with disabilities and to develop a group counseling program with a group to meet these requirements, and then to experimentally assess the effect of the program on the hopelessness, and state and trait anxiety levels of the parents and their perceptions of social support. A total of 32 parents of children with disabilities voluntarily participated in the study, comprising 27 females and 5 males. The study consisted of 2 stages, the first of which was applied as semi-structured interviews within the framework of qualitative research. On a theoretical basis and the findings obtained from the interviews were developed into the Reality Therapy-Based Group Counseling Program (RTGCP). In the second stage of the study, the effect on dependent variables of the RTGCP was tested with a 2 x 2 design on 20 female volunteers from the 32 participants. The findings showed that the RTGCP had a statistically significant effect on the increase in multiple perceptions of social support (z=-2.67; p<0.05) and the decrease in state anxiety levels (U=16.00; p<0.05).