The effects of a Journey of the Brave Counseling Program on anxiety, well-being, and life adjustment in Taiwanese children

Abstract

The purposes of the current study are two-fold. Study 1 aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in a Taiwanese sample. Study 2 aimed to explore the immediate and follow-up effects of Journey of the Brave Counseling Program (JBCP) on children’s’ anxiety, well-being, and life adjustment. A review and suggestions were provided for future research and practitioners in educational and counseling fields as reference. In Study 1, the pilot study included 150 to 200 children between ages 11 and 12 in Taoyuan City. In Study 2, we conducted a pretest-posttest nonequivalent groups quasi-experimental design. The participants in this stage were 16 children in an elementary school in Taoyuan City, between ages 11 and 12. After obtaining consent forms from the participants’ guardians, we randomly assigned these participants to an experimental group (N = 8) and a control group (N = 8). The experimental group received a 40-minute JBCP session weekly for ten weeks. The control group received a 40-minute career exploration small group counseling weekly for ten weeks. We administered the SCAS, Psychological Well-Being Scale, and School Life Adjustment Scale in the pretest, posttest, and follow-up test to measure change of anxiety, well-being, and life adjustment of the participants. In addition, the current study implemented some qualitative data, such as group progress notes, group member feedback questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews with participants’ homeroom teachers as supplementary data to clarify the effects of the JBCP. In Study 1, we found that the SCAS had a good validity and reliability for Taiwanese children. The results of Study 2 indicated that the JBCP had immediate and follow-up effects on the separation anxiety in the experimental group. With the pretest impact eliminated, the immediate and follow-up effects on overall anxiety in the experimental group were better than those on the control group. However, even though the immediate and follow-up effects of the JBCP on the experimental group were better than the control group but were not significant. Besides, the group member feedback questionnaires and participants’ homeroom teachers all indicated that the experimental group participants had positive attitude toward the JBCP, and they also positively improved their emotions and interpersonal relationships with others.