Missouri State University Secondary Field Experience COU 781 FALL 2009

Michelle Jolly COU 781 Dr. Marci Dowdy Fall 2009

 Students:  Three 7 th grade girls, three 7 th grade boys  Two students referred from 6 th grade counselor  One student referred from teacher  Three students volunteered  After first group session, one student withdrew from the group  Intervention:  One individual prescreen session  Four minute group sessions  One individual follow-up session  Measurements:  GPA Comparison, Self-Esteem, Student Feedback Form  Setting:  Every Tuesday in conference room, in counselor’s office

 Prescreen Session  Purpose  Goals  Group Guidelines  Background of Divorce  Permission Forms

 Group Session 1  “Understanding Life Changes”  Small Group Guidelines  Self-Esteem Pre-test  Commonality Tic-Tac-Toe  Stages of Grief  Taking Care of You  Closure/Summary

 Group Session 2  “You Are Not Alone”  Review Guidelines  Stages of Grief  Taking Care of You  “Divorce Is Not Caused By Kids” -Schab  “Talking To Your Parents About Divorce” -Schab  Closure/Summary

 Group Session 3  Processing Divorce  Review Guidelines, Stages of Grief, and Taking Care of You  Check In  “Divorce Sentence Completion Activity” -Brigman  Closure/Summary

 Group session 4  Closure/Termination Session  Review Guidelines, Taking Care of You, “Divorce Sentence Completion”  Check In  Gifts We Share  Yarn Ball

 Follow-up session  Individual Follow-Up  Check In  Self-Esteem Post-Test  Student Feedback Form

 Academic Development  GPA Comparison  Personal and Social Development  Self-Esteem Test Likert Scale Adapted from Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale  Student Feedback Form Overall Effectiveness of Group

 Academic development  GPA Comparison

 Personal and Social development  Self-Esteem Test

 Student Feedback Form  “Before the group started, I wanted to learn:”  “Why my parents were getting divorced” - SE  “I just wanted someone to talk [to] other than my mom or dad” – BH  “How to deal with my issues” – SS  “What other people are going through” - NS

 “Because of the group, I have noticed these changes in my thoughts, feelings, actions:”  “I feel more relaxed but my parents a[re] fighting more frequently now” – SE  “I am more positive about myself” – SS  “I am more happy then I was before” - NS

 Measurement of GPA  GPA decreasing was more reflective of the school year getting more difficult  Measurement of Self-Esteem  1 student rated their self-esteem higher after group  4 out of 5 students rated their self-esteem lower after group  Two students mentioned their parents were fighting more, after the group, which may account for some of the decreases  Two other students reports are inconsistent because their self-esteem scores were lower, while they rated having a more positive self image on “Student Feedback Form”  Measurement of “Student Feedback Form”  Students reported having an overall positive outcome from the group

 More accurate measurements of gains and benefits of a group on divorce  More sessions for a group of this nature  Difficult for students this age to talk deeply about their parents getting divorced  Overall students were well adjusted kids  Great attendance- all 97% and above  Hardly any discipline referrals-1 student had 3 discipline referrals, while the others had 0  Good grades- 4 out of 5 students on average had a GPA of 3.0, before and after the group

 Brigman, G. (2008). Group Counseling for School Counselors: A Practical Guide. Walch Education.  Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale htm htm  Schab, L.M. (2008). The Divorce Workbook for Children: Help for Kids to Overcome Difficult Family Changes and Grow Up Happy. New Harbinger Publications.