The effect of psychoeducation program based on art therapy practices on emotional literacy skills of children with hearing impairment

Students with hearing impairment often face emotional and behavioral challenges. It is suggested that the implementation of programs focusing on emotion regulation can significantly improve emotional intelligence, self-management, self-awareness, relationship management and social awareness in hearing impaired students. In this direction, this study examined the effect of emotion training on the emotional processes of hearing-impaired students. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of art therapy on the scores of emotion regulation skills of hearing-impaired children who participated in the Psychoeducation Program Based on Art Therapy Practices developed by the researcher. The study was conducted using quantitative research method. In addition, a questionnaire was created after the study and the opinions of the participants about the process were taken with various questions. The scale used in the study was developed to assess the emotional literacy skills of primary school students. Consisting of 18 questions, the scale consists of two sub-dimensions named "Individual Emotional Processes" and "Social Emotional Processes". The Cronbach Alpha value of the scale was found as .829. The higher score obtained from the scale indicates that emotional literacy is high. The item factor loadings of the scale and the reliability of the scale are at the desired level. The independent variable of the study was the 10-week Psychoeducation Program Based on Art Therapy Practices developed by the researcher and applied only to the experimental group between the pre-test and post-test measurements. The dependent variable of the study is the emotional literacy levels of hearing impaired children. Emotional training was given to 7 students participating in the study, and the other group of 7 students received the training provided by the curriculum. When the differences in the emotional process scores of the experimental group before and after the training were examined, it was concluded that the total scores of social emotional processes and individual emotional processes were higher compared to the control group. It is thought that the findings obtained in the study may contribute to other future studies and applications for students. In this study, the effects of emotion training on the emotional processes of hearing impaired students were examined. In line with the findings, it was found that the emotional process scores of hearing-impaired students who received emotion training were significantly higher compared to the control group who did not receive emotion training. The findings of the study show that emotion training can have significant and positive effects on students' emotional processes. In support of the findings of this study, it is thought that providing more participants in future research and applications for students and making arrangements about the duration of emotional training will contribute to evaluating the improvement in students' emotional processes. Keywords: Emotional processes, emotion regulation, hearing disability, educational activities