Investigation of the effect of psychoeducation program based on positive psychology approach on parental self-efficacy, post-traumatic growth and psychological well-being levels of parents with children with special needs

The aim of this study was to develop a psychoeducation program based on positive psychology approach for parents of children with special needs and to test the effects of this program on parental self-efficacy, posttraumatic growth and psychological well-being. In the study, pre-test-post-test control group experimental design was used. The study group consisted of parents of children with physical and mental special needs who received support education from a special education and rehabilitation centre in Muratpaşa district of Antalya province. A total of 22 participants, 11 in the experimental group and 11 in the control group, were studied. Parental Self-Efficacy Scale, Posttraumatic Growth Scale and PERMA Psychological Well-Being Scale were used to collect data on variables. Voluntary participants selected to the experimental group and participants with similar demographic characteristics and diagnostic groups or medical histories of their children were selected to the control group. Positive psychology-based psychoeducation program was applied to the experimental group; no intervention was applied to the control group. After 7 sessions of the program, a follow-up test was administered to all participants 3 months later. Mann Whitney U Test, Friedman Test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test were used in the statistical analysis of the data. As a result of the findings, it was determined that the psychoeducation programme had a positive effect on parental self-efficacy, posttraumatic growth and psychological well-being in favour of the experimental group. Key Words: Parental self-efficacy, posttraumatic growth, psychoeducation, psychological well-being