Аномальная и поведенческая психология

Effectiveness of a Psycho-Educational Group Intervention Program for Improving Post-Divorce Adjustment Difficulties of Women

Abstract

Teshome Gurara

Background of the study: Divorce can be a deterrent factor in the personal growth and development of divorced women and children. Consequently, an intervention program is appropriate to improve problems related to post-divorce adjustment. A lot of intervention models were developed to assist women effectively deal with post-divorce adjustment difficulties. Psycho-educational group intervention program, also called rebuilding after divorce seminar, is one such intervention that proved to be effective particularly in the Western nations. However, there are no evidences if this model would apply to divorcees in different cultures like the one in Ethiopia. Given that the causes and impacts of divorce are culturally mediated, there is then is a critical need to examine the effectiveness of this model in aiding divorced women cope with adjustment difficulties accruing divorce. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of psycho-educational group intervention program for improving post-divorce adjustment of women.

Methods: A pretest-posttest control group design was employed in such a way that a sample of 12 divorced women were randomly divided into experimental (n=6) and control (n=6) groups and then fisher’s divorce adjustment scale was administered to them as a pre-test and post-test measure. The intervention seminar (themes focused on managing symptoms of grief, guilt reaction, separation anger, self-worth, relatedness, love, and sexuality) was offered in five sessions for five weeks, two hours each, to the treatment group to boost skills that help dealing with the post-divorce effect, while the control group didn’t receive any treatment. Intervention gains were gauged through ancova.

Results: Findings indicated that there were significant changes in the divorce adjustment process among the treatment group after the intervention suggesting that this intervention model was effective in rebuilding divorced women’s coping mechanisms and, therefore, can be used for similar purposes in the Ethiopian setting.

Conclusion: The divorce recovery manual, in conjunction with the five-week seminar, is beneficial to those experiencing the trauma of divorce. It helps them to grow emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially in the divorce adjustment process.