The Efficacy of EMDR-Focused Group Counseling Program Applied to Primary School Students with PTSD Symptoms in Grief Process

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to examine the efficacy of the EMDR-focused group counseling program applied to primary school students who show PTSD symptoms in grief process. The research is quasi-experimental, pretest posttest and follow-up design with a control group. Participants were 12 students; the experimental group consisted of 6 students and the control group consisted of 6 students. Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) was utilized in the research. EMDR-focused group counseling program was applied to the experimental group students. For data analysis; Mann Whitney U Test was used for intergroup comparisons; Friedman Test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test were used for intragroup comparisons. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that the mean scores of all subscales of CPSS of the experimental group students, who participated in the EMDR-focused group counseling program, differed significantly. In order to identify the measurements causing the difference, multiple comparison tests were conducted. It is detected that the reexperiencing and hyperarousal subscales score means of the experimental group students decreased significantly from the pretest to the follow-up test, the mean score of the avoidance subscale decreased significantly from the pretest to the posttest. Regarding the intragroup comparisons; it was found that follow-up measures of reexperiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal scores decreased significantly in favor of the experimental group. The findings reveal that the EMDR-focused group counseling program is effective in reducing the symptoms of primary school students who show PTSD symptoms in grief process.