A trial of an emotional intelligence intervention in an Iranian residential institution for adolescents.

Abstract

As a vulnerable group in society, orphaned and abandoned adolescents are faced with various social issues as well as lack of healthy social skills that can lead to high-risk behaviors. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of emotional intelligence skills training on the social skills of orphaned and abandoned adolescents. The present study was an interventional research with a pretest-posttest design. The sample included 30 orphaned and abandoned male teen-agers, residing in a care center, who were randomly selected and divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group had four emotional intelligence-based training sessions. In this study, the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) was used to evaluate the variables. The results were analyzed, using SPSS Statistics 22. The results showed significant difference between the mean MESSY scores in the intervention group before and after the intervention (p < .05). There was also a significant difference between the mean scores of the intervention and control group, following the intervention. An emotional intelligence-based training program can be effective in improving the social skill levels amongst orphaned and abandoned adolescents as a vulnerable social group.