An experiment on a proposed structured group counseling approach to promote personal growth based on Fromm's theory of man

• Main Author: Quilaman, Ireneo M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1976
• Subjects: Group guidance in education; Group counseling; Counseling
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/404
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study aims to determine the effectivity of structured group counseling as an approach to facilitate personal growth directed to develop the values of the loving, productive personality and self-actualization with a group of selected fourth year high school students. The experiment was conducted on 16 senior students selected on the bases of age, intelligence, initial willingness to join a group counseling program, and levels of self-actualization. The instruments used in the study were the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), the Teacher Observation Scales for a Productive Personality (TOSPP), and the Productive Personality Questionnaire (PPQ). A combination of the Randomized Control Group Pretest-Posttest Design (Design 2) and the Randomized Control-Group Posttest-only Design (Design 4) as described by Van Dalen (1973) was adopted. The statistical tests used were the Direct-Difference Method of the t test for correlated samples the t test for small, independent samples and White's Rank Test for significant differences between two groups. The data obtained from the POI failed to provide evidence to show that the structured group counseling approach effected personal growth in the direction of self-actualizing values. On observable behavior concerned with growth in the direction of love and productiveness, the group counseling participants did not improve significantly. Also, the results of the PPQ posttest revealed that in all the scales, the group counselees scored higher than the non-counseled subjects but none of the differences were statistically significant. It was concluded that a short-term group counseling program may not bring about significant personality changes but may effect the beginning of change toward a positive direction enabling the subjects to become more creative, more reasonable and objective in dealing with themselves and the world.