THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A REALISTIC EXISTENTIAL GROUP COUNSELING PROGRAM TO IMPROVE THE MEANING OF LIFE AND SATISFY THE PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS OF PRISONERS' WIVES IN NABLUS GOVERNORATE

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Date
2021-01-16
Authors
Dweikat, Manal
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
An-Najah National University
Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a realistic existential group counseling program to improve the meaning of life and satisfy the psychological needs of detainees' wives in Nablus governorate. To achieve this goal, the researcher used a quasi-experimental approach that is based on examining the impact of the independent variable (the counseling program) on the two dependent variables (the meaning of life and psychological needs). Two equivalent group designs were used with pre-test and post-test of two groups, a control one and an experimental one. The counseling program was delivered to the later while the former didn't receive any treatment. The study selected an available sample of 20 detainees' wives who obtained the lower scores in the meaning of life and psychological needs test. The symmetry approach was used to distribute the participants among the experimental and control groups, and every group contained 10 participants. the program benefited from the realistic and existential therapies techniques. The group counseling program was 18 sessions that lasted for two months and, and the duration of each session was (60) minutes. The statistical differences between the average pre-test of the control and experimental groups of the two dependent variables (the meaning of life and psychological needs) were measured, and there were no statistically significant differences, which indicated the equality of the study groups. The results of the paired samples t-Test indicated that there were significant differences between the averages of the pre and post-tests in the meaning of life and psychological needs and their domains of the experimental group in favor of the post-test, which in turn indicated that the realistic existential group counseling program was effective in improving the meaning of life and satisfy the psychological needs of the detainees' wives. Furthermore, the results of the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed that there were significant differences between the averages of the post-tests in the meaning of life and psychological needs and their domains for the experimental and control group in favor of the experimental group. Which in turn indicated that the group counseling program was effective in improving the meaning of their lives and satisfying their psychological needs compared to wives in the control group. In light of the findings, the current study recommended employing the techniques of realistic and existential therapies with the detainees’ wives who suffer from the lack of satisfaction of psychological needs and lost the meaning of life, and replicating this study on other groups.
Description
This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a realistic existential group counseling program to improve the meaning of life and satisfy the psychological needs of detainees' wives in Nablus governorate. To achieve this goal, the researcher used a quasi-experimental approach that is based on examining the impact of the independent variable (the counseling program) on the two dependent variables (the meaning of life and psychological needs). Two equivalent group designs were used with pre-test and post-test of two groups, a control one and an experimental one. The counseling program was delivered to the later while the former didn't receive any treatment. The study selected an available sample of 20 detainees' wives who obtained the lower scores in the meaning of life and psychological needs test. The symmetry approach was used to distribute the participants among the experimental and control groups, and every group contained 10 participants. the program benefited from the realistic and existential therapies techniques. The group counseling program was 18 sessions that lasted for two months and, and the duration of each session was (60) minutes. The statistical differences between the average pre-test of the control and experimental groups of the two dependent variables (the meaning of life and psychological needs) were measured, and there were no statistically significant differences, which indicated the equality of the study groups. The results of the paired samples t-Test indicated that there were significant differences between the averages of the pre and post-tests in the meaning of life and psychological needs and their domains of the experimental group in favor of the post-test, which in turn indicated that the realistic existential group counseling program was effective in improving the meaning of life and satisfy the psychological needs of the detainees' wives. Furthermore, the results of the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed that there were significant differences between the averages of the post-tests in the meaning of life and psychological needs and their domains for the experimental and control group in favor of the experimental group. Which in turn indicated that the group counseling program was effective in improving the meaning of their lives and satisfying their psychological needs compared to wives in the control group. In light of the findings, the current study recommended employing the techniques of realistic and existential therapies with the detainees’ wives who suffer from the lack of satisfaction of psychological needs and lost the meaning of life, and replicating this study on other groups.
Keywords
existential counseling, realistic counseling, psychological needs, the meaning of life, Palestinian detainees’ wives, group counseling program.
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