Examining the effectiveness of emotion focused group counseling with divorced women

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Emotion Focused Group Counseling (EFGC) on divorced women's emotional awareness and psychological well being and also investigate the opinions of divorced women regarding the effectiveness of Emotion Focused Group Counseling. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used and concurrent nested strategy of the mixed method was chosen in the research. In the study, a real experimantal design 2x3 pre-test post-test control group was used. The study group consisted of 20 divorced women, nine in the experimental group and 11 in the control group. In the study, 16 sessions of EFGC were administered to the experimental group and no application was done with the control group. The quantitative data were collected by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale and Psychological Well-Scale; and the qualitative data were collected by the Client Diary, Group Leader Diary and Focus Group Interview Form. The quantitative data were analyzed by using a mixed 2x3 measures ANOVA, and the qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis. The quantitative findings of the study showed that the post test and retention test scores of levels of emotional awareness of divorced women forming the experimental group increased, the post test and retention test scores of levels of emotional awareness of divorced women forming the control groups decreased. On the other hand, findings revealed that Emotion Focused Group Counseling was not effective in increasing the psychological well-being of divorced women. The qualitative results of the study were grouped under two categories as "Contribution" and "Emotion Focused Group Counseling". When the Contribution category was reviewed, four themes including level of emotional awareness, psychological well-being, adaptation after divorce and metaphors emerged. In the context of Emotion Focused Group Counseling category, three themes emerged including techniques, group leader and recommendations regarding group structure. Keywords: Emotion focused therapy, emotion focused group counseling, emotional awareness, psychological well-being, divorce, divorced women.