ABSTRACT
Background: Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have lower academic efficiency than students with other disabilities and exhibit high levels of problematic behaviors and low levels of social functioning. This research aims to investigate the impact of self-determination activities on communication skills and scholastic achievement of students at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders. Methods: The study was conducted through a randomized controlled trial during the academic year 2018-2019. The samples included 54 female students (14 to 16 years) at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders from secondary schools in Tehran, Iran. The sampling was conducted through a random cluster method. The applied tools encompass Youth Self-report and Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills. Academic success was measured by students' grade point average (GPA) in two terms. The intervention was held in 8 sessions of 90 minutes, once a week, after the first term of academic of students for the intervention group and the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. The data were analyzed by SPSS-22, MANCOVA, T-test, and Chi-Square tests. Results: The results of the multivariate analysis of covariance analysis showed self-determination has an impact on communication skills (physicality, information exchange and relations) of students at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders (p<0.05). Comparing the difference between the averages of the two students' means, it was found that there was a significant difference in the two groups after the intervention (p<0.001). Also, after the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups but the GPA of students in the intervention group increased from 13.19 to 15.61. Conclusion: The findings suggested self-determination is effective for academic success and communication skills of students at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders and can be used in educational programs for these students.
ABSTRACT
Background: Self-determination skills enable to support an individual's needs and make decisions to function independently. Improvement of self-determination skills has had a positive result for adolescents at risk of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of occupational therapy interventions on the self-determination skills of adolescent girls at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders. Methods: In this single-blind control trial study, 14-16-years-old girl students (n=54) at risk of EBD were recruited by cluster sampling from secondary high schools of Tehran, Iran. Youth self-report Questionnaire (YSR) was used to include adolescents at risk of EBD in the study and were randomized into the intervention (n=27) and control group (n=27) by block randomization. The Student Self-Determination Scale (SDSS) and the Self-determination Parent Perception Scale (SDPPS) were used to collect data. Students in the intervention group participated in 8 - once a week- sessions of occupational therapy and the control group received no training. Data were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance (RMANOVA), Bonferroni test and SPSS 16.0 version. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The score of self-determinations (SDSS) increased significantly in the intervention group after the intervention (p<0.001). Although the mean scores of self-determination at follow-up have increased in the intervention group compared to the post-test. No significant differences were found (p>0.05); also, the score of parents' perception of student self-determination (SDPPS) increased but there were not significantly different (p=0.064). Conclusion: The findings indicated self-determination skills could be taught to adolescents at risk of EBD in OT sessions. Since self-determination has been identified as the necessary skills for adolescents at-risk to transition into adulthood, occupational therapists have an important role in promoting self-determination skills in adolescents at risk of EBD.
