The effect of group guidance programme to the adjustment levels of divorced family children who are in the second degree of elementary school

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of group guidance programme to the adjustment levels of divorced family children who are in the second degree of elementary school. The study was carried out on the 30 children whose parents are divorced, sixth through eight grade in elemantary school, Kızılcahamam in Ankara, during 2003-2004 instructional year. In the study, experimental group consisted of 15 and control group consisted of 15 children whose parents are divorced. Design of research was based on, entrance test, final test, experiment, and control group design. The adjustment levels of children from divorced families was measured by means of "Hacettepe Personalitiy Inventory" which was developed Özgüven (1992). It is also used "Personel Data Questionnarie" which was developed researcher, to learn something about children in divorced families. For the children of divorced families in experimental group, a group guidance programme was introduced by the researcher, 1 hour in a week, for 12 weeks of duration. Control group did not receive any programme. To test the effectiveness of the experimental procedure, "independent and paired samples t test" was carried for the data analysis. It is also used SPSS 11.0 for the data analysis. Test of significance, is made subject of assesments according to p< 0.05. The guidance programme promotes support, helps children identify and express divorce-related feelings, clarifies divorce-related concepts, and develops relevant coping skills, as well as positive self and family perceptions. The results of the study indicated that, group guidance programme had a positive effect on adjustment levels of divorced family children. The researchers and counselors can do different studies for children of divorce in Turkey. Because they need professional help. IV