Investigation of the effectiveness of the psychoeducation group intervention program to improve psychological strength in agents with childhood trauma

Childhood is a period when we are most undefended and are need of others in human life. Negative experiences that will traumatic effect experienced in this period may lead to negative consequences in later stages of life. However, despite the traumatic experiences, it is seen that the probability of experiencing negative results in the later stages of life is lower in people with high psychological resilience. Psychological resilience may have a preventive function in people in view of challenging experiences. It is expected that psychological resilience will act as a preventive shield and fulfil a curative duty against child traumatic experiences, self-esteem, self-harm and risky behaviors examined in the research. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the Psychological Resilience Psychoeducation Program (PRPP-High School Level), which was prepared by the Ministry of National Education with the financial support of UNICEF, on empowering the adolescent group. The research was carried out in a public school in Istanbul, which provides education at the high school level in a low socio-economic region. Presence of childhood traumas and low psychological resilience were accepted as a risk factor. In the public school where the program was carried out, a group intervention program was executed on adolescents with risk factors determined by measuring (N=466) from all high school students. Childhood Trauma Scale (CTQ-33), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RBSS), Self-Harm Behavior Assessment Inventory and Adolescent Risk Taking Scale were used as measurement tools in the study. For the pre-test and post-test total scores of the experimental (n= 11) and control (n= 12) groups, the Mann-Whitney U test was used to test whether there was a difference within the groups and between the groups. As a result of the analyzes, it was observed that the group intervention program aimed at empowering adolescents who were exposed to childhood trauma increased psychological resilience and self-esteem in adolescents, while it decreased self-harming and risk-taking behavior in adolescents. Consequently, it was observed that the group intervention program increased the psychological resilience level of adolescents with childhood trauma.