The effects of psycho-education program based on logotherapy for the development of a healthy sense of identity in emerging adulthoods

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effects of a psychoeducation program developed on the basis of logotherapy, for the development of a healthy sense of identity among emerging adulthoods. The Solomon Four-Group Design was used in the study. There were two experimental groups and two control groups, each of which consisted of 16 members. The experimental groups participated in 11 sessions of the logotherapy-focused psychoeducational program. Titles of the sessions were identity and meaning, life and meaning, roles in our life, responsibilities and meaning, family and meaning, logo-autobiography, suffering and meaning, values and meaning, authentic goals, and evaluation and termination. The control groups, on the other hand, received no specific intervention (the “education as normal” groups). The Self Perceived Identity Scale developed by Ersanli and Şanli (2015) was used as the main data collection instrument. In accordance with the Solomon Four-Group Design, only one experimental and one control group took a pre-test; the remaining groups did not take such a test. However, all groups took a post-test. Follow-up was conducted with all four groups 3 months after the sessions ended. Statistical analyses revealed that negative identity perception levels of the experimental groups significantly decreased, while their positive identity perception levels increased meaningfully. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the scores of the control groups. Thus, it can be concluded that logotherapy-focused psychoeducational programs may be effective in decreasing negative identity perceptions and increasing positive identity perceptions. In other words, logotherapy-focused psychoeducational programs can help individuals in late emerging adulthood to develop a healthy perception of their identity. Finally, the findings were discussed in light of the relevant literature and suggestions were presented for their practical application.