Examining the effect of the "I Can Be More Powerful!" program on the psychological resilience of preschool children at risk

Preschool is the period of time when rapid progress is made in all fields of development and when the child is most sensitive to the effects of the environment. Children's environments can be different from each other and create risks or opportunities for them. Although the ideal environment is a warm and supportive environment that children are supported in all developmental fields and the skills necessary for their adaptation are acquired, this is not always possible. A considerable number of children have to live with various risks/stressors that hinder their development and learning. Poverty, in particular, is a very common, complex, and usually permanent risk factor that prevents children from being in a state of complete well-being. On the other hand, the good news is that despite poverty or other risks, many children can adapt well to the relevant developmental period and their environment thanks to the capacity to recover (bounce back) they have and can continue their development and learning like their peers who do not have these risks. This capacity to recover is called "resilience". The current study examined the factors affecting resilience in children living in the context of poverty and tested the effectiveness of the "I Can Be More Powerful! Program" developed in light of these identified factors. The research was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, a relational screening model was used. In order to determine the resilience factors, it was aimed to determine the role of children's individual (self-perception), emotional (emotion regulation), social competencies (social skills and problem behaviors) and relationships with close adults (parent-child (mother) relationship and teacher-child relationship) on resilience with a structural equation model established in an ecological perspective. In this context, a model that includes direct and indirect effects to all dimensions of resilience, specifically social skills, problem behaviors, emotion regulation skills, self-perception, parent (mother)-child and teacher-child relationships, was created and tested with path analysis. The Social Emotional Well-being and Psychological Resilience Scale for Preschool Children (PERIK), adapted by Özbey (2019), was used to measure resilience. The Kindergarten and Preschool Behavior Scale adapted by Özbey (2009) was used to measure social skills and problem behaviors; the Emotion Regulation Scale adapted by Batum and Yağmurlu (2007) was used to measure emotion regulation; the DeMoulin Self-Perception Scale adapted by Kuru-Turaşlı (2006) was used to measure self-perception; the Child Parent Relationship Scale (mother form) adapted by Akgün Yeşilyaprak (2010) was used to measure parent-child relationship; and the Teacher-Child Relationship Scale adapted by Şahin Ası and Karabay (2018) was used to measure teacher-child relationship. In addition to these, Personal Information Forms developed by the researcher were used to obtain demographic information. 257 children aged five years who were attending preschool education, their parents, and teachers participated in this part of the study. The findings showed that resilience was directly and indirectly affected by the determined variables. It shows that social skills affect all dimensions of resilience. Problem behaviors were effective in communication/social performance, self-control/thoughtfulness, and task orientation dimensions of resilience. Emotion regulation skills were effective in self-control/thoughtfulness and emotional stability/coping with stress dimensions of resilience. Self-perception was also effective in communication/social performance, assertiveness, and enjoyment of exploring dimensions. No direct effect was observed in the parent (mother) child relationship on resilience. However, the teacher-child relationship was effective directly in communication/social performance and assertiveness. Also, it was indirectly effective in communication/social performance, self-control/thoughtfulness, and task orientation dimensions of resilience through mediation of problem behaviors. The second stage of the research included a pre-test, post-test, follow-up test and control groups experimental design. In this section of the study, the causal relationships in the model tested in the first stage were taken into account and the I Can Be More Powerful! Program was designed. This program included activities aimed at supporting children's social skills, emotion regulation skills, self-perception, and teacher-child relationships, and activities aimed at reducing problem behaviors. A total of 68 children and their teachers participated in the study. Participants were divided into two experimental and two control groups. The program implementer in the Experimental1 group was the preschool teacher. The researcher herself was the implementer in the Experimental2 group. In the Control1 and Control2 groups, the activities were continued by the preschool teachers in accordance with the national education program. The Social Emotional Well-being and Psychological Resilience Scale for Preschool Children (PERIK), adapted by Özbey (2019), was used for the pretest, posttest and follow-up tests. The activities were implemented three days a week and lasted for seven weeks. Then, in the end, Robust ANOVA was performed in the analysis process to understand the effectiveness of the program and the effect of time passing throughout the entire process. As a result, it has seen that the "I Can Be More Powerful! Program" supported children's resilience. It has been revealed that the children's resilience has increased in the meantime and that the program is beneficial even the time effect is considered. Keywords: Resilience, psychological resilience, early childhood, preschool, structural equation model