Social and Emotional Development Support Program for Adolescents: Effects on Belonging, Meaning in Life, Authenticity, Well-Being, and Resilience

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Social and Emotional Developmental Support Program: A structured program designed to promote adolescents' social and emotional development. The program includes interactive sessions aimed at enhancing belonging, meaning in life, emotional authenticity, well-being, and resilience. It will be implemented in a school setting through group-based activities and reflective discussions.

Study summary

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Social and Emotional Developmental Support Program on adolescents' sense of belonging, meaning in life, emotional authenticity, well-being, and resilience. The study will be conducted with 9th-grade students studying in Defne district of Hatay, Türkiye, one of the regions affected by the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake that occurred on February 6, 2023. A pre-test/post-test control group experimental design will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• The General Belongingness Scale — Baseline (pre-test) and after completion of the intervention (approximately 11 weeks).
  Participants' sense of belonging will be assessed using the General Belongingness Scale. The General Belongingness Scale is answered on a four-point Likert scale with the options "(1) Strongly disagree, (2) Somewhat disagree, (3) Mostly agree, (4) Strongly agree." Six items represent the rejection/exclusion dimension, while the remaining six items reflect the acceptance/inclusion dimension. When all 12 items are evaluated together, a total belongingness score is obtained. In this context, higher total scores indicate higher levels of general belongingness among adolescents.
• Meaning in Life Questionnaire — Baseline (pre-test) and after completion of the intervention (approximately 11 weeks).
  Participants' perceived meaning in life will be assessed using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Higher scores on the Presence of Meaning subscale indicate that individuals perceive their lives as more meaningful and purposeful, whereas higher scores on the Search for Meaning subscale reflect greater efforts to find or develop meaning in life. When calculating the total score by reverse-coding the Search subscale, a higher overall score signifies a stronger sense of meaning in life.
• Emotional Authenticity Scale — Baseline (pre-test) and after completion of the intervention (approximately 11 weeks).
  Participants' emotional authenticity will be measured using the Emotional Authenticity Scale. The Emotional Authenticity Scale is a 20-item self-report measure assessing the extent to which individuals express their emotions in a genuine, coherent, and self-consistent manner. Items are rated on a 1-5 Likert scale. Five items from the "Acceptance of External Influence" subscale and seven items from the "Emotional Avoidance" subscale are reverse-scored. Higher total scores indicate greater emotional authenticity.
• EPOCH Well-being Scale — Baseline (pre-test) and after completion of the intervention (approximately 11 weeks).
  Participants' well-being levels will be assessed using the EPOCH Well-Being Measure. The scale consists of five subscales and a total of 20 items. Higher scores on each subscale indicate a greater level of the specific characteristic assessed by that dimension. In addition, the scale provides an overall well-being score. During scoring, mean scores are calculated for each subscale as well as for the total scale.
• Psychological Resilience Attitude and Skills Scale — Baseline (pre-test) and after completion of the intervention (approximately 11 weeks).
  Participants' resilience levels will be measured using the Resilience Attitude and Skill Scale. It is a 34-item, single-factor measurement tool rated on a four-point Likert scale. There are no reverse-scored items in the scale. Higher scores indicate higher levels of psychological resilience.

Trial sites (1)

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