Effectiveness of solution-focused group counseling on the mental health of midwifery students

Abstract Objective The present study was conducted with the objective of investigating the effectiveness of solution-focused group counseling (SFGC) on promoting the mental health of midwifery students. Methods The present study is an intervention-based study with a pretest, a post-test, and a control group. The statistical population included all of the midwifery students studying in the midwifery department of the Bam University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, who filled out the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) in the screening phase. In the second phase, 40 individuals, having a low level of mental health based on the cutoff score of 23, were selected and randomly divided into 2 groups (intervention and control), each group with 20 participants. The intervention group participated in 5 sessions of 75 minutes for SFGC. Then, the post-test was held in both groups and the data analysis was conducted using the Mann-Whitney and the Kruskal-Wallis test with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). The significance level was considered as p < 0.05. Results The findings showed that the mean of the post-test mental health scores of the intervention group (14.5 ± 50.35) and of the control group (23.6 ± 35.83) showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001). Moreover, the comparison between the mean scores of the mental health subscales (physical symptoms, stress, social performance, and depression) showed a statistically significant difference in these groups, and SFGC improved physical symptoms, stress, social performance, and depression in the members of the intervention group. Conclusion Solution-focused group counseling may improve all levels of mental health. This type of counseling is recommended to be used to solve the psychological problemsand to improve the mental health of students, as well as of the staff of the health system.

The Effects of Solution-focused Group Counseling Program for the Families with Schizophrenic Patients / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the effects of a solution-focused group counseling program on the family burden, active coping, expressed emotion, and family support in schizophrenic patients and their families. METHOD: The subjects consisted of 48 schizophrenic patients and 56 families. Twenty-four schizophrenic patients and 28 families were assigned to both the experimental and control groups. The solution-focused group counseling program was conducted for the families of the experimental group, but not for the control group or the patients of the experimental group. RESULT: There was a significant greater decrease in scores of family burden and expressed emotion in the experimental groups than the control groups. There was a larger increase in active coping scores in the experimental groups than the control groups, but it was not significant. There was no significant difference between the two groups in family support scores. CONCLUSION: This program may be an effective nursing intervention program for families with schizophrenic members.

The Effects of Solution-Focused Group Counseling on the Stress Response and Coping Strategies in the Delinquent Juveniles / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effects of solution-focused group counseling on the general stress, stress response and coping in the delinquent juveniles. METHOD: The subjects consisted of a convenience samlple of 60 delinquent juveniles who had been placed under probation in Kwang-ju, and recruited from Oct., 2000 to Dec., 2000. Solution-focused group counseling was conducted for the experimental group once a week for 120 to 180 minutes for 6 week. The control group received no group session. For both groups the level of general stress, stress response and coping were measured before and after the experiment. RESULT: General stress significantly decreased in the experimental group and increased in the control group, but showed no significant difference between the two groups. Stress response decreased significantly in the experimental group and increased in the control group, but showed no significant difference between the two groups. The problem-focused coping significantly increased in the experimental group and decreased in the control group, and showed a significant difference between the two groups. The emotion-focused coping significantly decreased in the experimental group and increased in the control group, and showed no significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: This study showed that solution-focused group-counselling has a positive effect on variables like the general stress, stress response, emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping. Further study needs to be conducted to verify results.