The effect of cognitive behavioral therapy based social emotional learning skills psychoeducation programs on the 7th grade students' social anxiety levels

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of social emotional learning skills psychoeducation program on the social anxiety and social emotional learning skill levels of 7th grade middle school students. For this purpose, an experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was used. The study group of the research consists of 7th grade students in a secondary school in a district of Antalya in the 2022-2023 academic year. To form the experimental and control groups, 30 volunteer students were randomly assigned 15 to the experimental group and 15 to the control group, considering their social anxiety and social emotional learning skill scores. Participants in the experimental group received an 8-session cognitive behavioral therapy-based social emotional learning skills psychoeducation program to increase social emotional learning skills. Participants in the control group did not receive an intervention program. Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SASA), Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale (SELLSS) and Personal Information Form were used to collect the research data. The research data were analyzed using T-test and ANCOVA for independent and dependent samples. As a result of the analyses, it was found that there was a significant decrease in the social anxiety posttest scores and a significant increase in the social emotional learning skills posttest scores of the students in the experimental group included in the "cognitive behavioral therapy-based social emotional learning skills" psychoeducation program. There was no significant change in the control group. It was observed that there was a significant difference in the post-test social anxiety and social emotional learning skills scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group.