An experimental study to stengthen the school adaptation of international students: Üsküdar case

This study is a protective-preventive and supportive school social work study based on empowerment approach. The research aims to reduce the exclusion of international students studying in secondary education from friend-peer groups and to increase their adaptation to school. In the qualitative phase of the study, in which mixed design was used, the problems and needs of international students in the psychosocial field were determined by interviewing the parents of international students and teachers / school administrators who attend the classes of international students. The results obtained were combined with previous research on the needs of international students and used as a basis for preparing a Group Psychosocial Education Intervention Depending On The Empowerment Approach. The effect of the education program prepared in the quantitative phase of the research on the exclusion of international students from friend-peer groups and their level of school adaptation was examined. Experimental design with pre-test, post-test and monitoring test experimental and control groups was used in the research. The research was carried out in an official secondary education institution in Üsküdar, Istanbul, in the 2020-2021 academic year with the participation of international students from all grades. The 8-session GYDGPE program developed by the researcher was applied to the experimental group. No execution was made to the control group. The analyzes of the measurements of the experimental and control groups applied to the School Adjustment Scale and the Friend-Peer Exclusion Scale were performed with Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, Friedman test and Mann Whitney U tests. As a result of the research, school adjustment scores of the students in the experimental group increased compared to the students in the control group in terms of school adjustment scores. School adjustment post-test scores of the students in the experimental group participating in the GPEIDEA program increased significantly compared to their pre-test scores. This increase remained stable in the monitoring measurement, which took place four weeks later. There is no significant difference in school adjustment post-test, pre-test and pre-test monitoring test scores of the control group students who did not participate in the GYDGPE program. In terms of exclusion scores from friend-peer groups, the exclusion scale scores of the students in the experimental group increased compared to the students in the control group. Increasing scores on the scale are related to adaptation, while low scores are related to exclusion. The exclusion post-test scores of the students in the experimental group who participated in the GYDGPE program increased significantly compared to their pre-test scores. This increase partially remained in the monitoring measurement after four weeks. In the monitoring measurement, there has been a partial decrease in the persistence of the effectiveness of the GYDGPE program. There is no significant difference in the exclusion from friend-peer groups post-test-pre-test and pre-test monitoring test scores of the control group students who did not participate in the GYDGPE program.