An experimental study on group counseling using behavior contract and reinforcement techniques for the sophomore high school girls of St. Paul College of Parañaque

• Main Author: Maggay, Marie Aveline
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1976
• Subjects: Group guidance in education; Group counseling; St. Paul College of Paranaque (Philippines); Counseling
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/397
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study aims to determine whether or not group counseling using behavior contract and reinforcement techniques would promote the personal and social adjustment of the adolescent. The subjects of the study were 48 second year high school girls from St. Paul College of Paranaque during the schoolyear 1975-1976. The instruments used in the study were the 1953 revision of the California Test of Personality (CTP), the Self-Analysis of Perceived Changes in Behavior, the Student's Self-Rating Scale and Leader Evaluation Scale, and the Group Evaluation Scale. The experimental treatment consisted of giving a series of both structured and non-structured group counseling sessions. The use of the Behavior Contract and Reinforcement Techniques Model was implemented within the sessions. The program consisted of ten counseling sessions with the last session devoted mainly to the administration of the posttest instrument and evaluation scales. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that group counseling using behavior contract and reinforcement techniques may be effective for some adolescents in enabling them to cope with their adjustment difficulties, but it may not always work for all. Also, the use of behavior contract and reinforcement techniques would require a follow-up of each case outside of the counseling sessions, if the desired change in attitudes, feelings, and ways of behaving was to be effected. It was also found that while group counseling using the Behavior Contract and Reinforcement Techniques Model may be effective in increasing social adjustment, it may not be pointed as particularly responsible for significant changes in personal adjustment among adolescents. In the final analysis, the effectiveness of group counseling as a means of promoting adjustment in relation to the person's problems may not always depend on the results obtained from the statistical data from a measuring instrument.