The Effects of Integrated Group Counseling to Develop Inner Strength of Mathayom Suksa VI Students in a School in Bangkok

Abstract

The objectives of this study were (1) to compare inner strength levels of an experimental group students before and after receiving integrated group counseling; and (2) to compare inner strength level of the experimental group students who received integrated group counseling with that of a control group students who received normal advice.  The research sample consisted of 16 Mathayom Suksa VI students of a school in Bangkok Metropolis whose scores as assessed by an inner strength assessment scale were at the 25th percentile or lower. Then, they were randomly assigned into an experimental group and a control group each of which consisting of 8students. The experimental group received integrated group counseling for 10 sessions with 90 minutes in each session; while the control group received normal counseling. The employed instruments were (1) an integrated group counseling program to develop inner strength, and (2) an inner strength assessment scale with reliability coefficient of .85.  Statistics employed for data analysis were the median, inter-quartile deviation, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test, and Mann-Whitney U test. The research findings showed that (1) after receiving the integrated group counseling, the experimental group students had inner strength higher than before with statistical significance at .01 level; and (2) after receiving the integrated group counseling, the experimental group students had inner strength higher of the control group students who received normal advice at .01 level of statistical significance.