ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY UNIVERSITY dtpr.lib. PDF file ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE SOCIAL SKILLS GROUP COUNSELLING IN SCHOOLS

ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE

SOCIAL SKILLS GROUP COUNSELLING IN SCHOOLS

BY

LUCY TOMIYAMA

A Final Project submitted to the

Campus Alberta Applied Psychology: Counselling Initiative

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF COUNSELLING

Alberta

November 2006

ABSTRACT

Deficits in social skills and social competence play a significant role in the development and

maintenance of behavioral problems of children in school. Children need a variety of

experiences interacting with their peers in order to practice these skills. Group counselling is

being recognized as a valuable approach in helping children increase their ability to perform

social behaviors that are important for them to achieve success in school. This project

reviews the literature about group counselling and its effectiveness for social skills training in

schools. In addition, a facilitator’s manual for Social Skills Group Counselling is presented to

provide school counsellors with a resource that they will be able to implement as part of their

school counselling program.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Bryan Hiebert for supervising my final project. I

would never have been able to complete this project without his patience and flexibility. I

would like to thank my husband Larry, whose love and support kept me going when I

thought I couldn’t do it anymore, and my children, Jess and Jordan, who had no choice but to

hang in there and go with the flow. To Pam, thank you for your friendship and ongoing

encouragement. To the staff at Cardinal Newman Elementary and Junior High, thank you for

caring.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................ ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................................... iii

CHAPTER I .............................................................................................................................. 1

Introduction................................................................................................................... 1

Need For A Manual .......................................................................................... 3

Structure of Project Document.......................................................................... 4

CHAPTER II............................................................................................................................. 5

Theoretical Foundations................................................................................................ 5

Effectiveness of Group Interventions ............................................................... 5

Criteria for Group Membership ........................................................................ 7

Selecting Group Participants............................................................................. 8

Risk Factors .................................................................................................... 10

Duration and Frequency of Meetings ............................................................. 10

Cultural Integration......................................................................................... 12

Core Strategies and Techniques...................................................................... 13

Group Leadership Style and Skills ................................................................. 13

Evaluation ....................................................................................................... 14

Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 14

CHAPTER III ......................................................................................................................... 16

Procedures................................................................................................................... 16

Background..................................................................................................... 16

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Conducting a Literature Review ..................................................................... 17

Collaborating with School Staff...................................................................... 17

CHAPTER IV ......................................................................................................................... 18

Synthesis and Implications ......................................................................................... 18

Impact of the Project....................................................................................... 18

Limitations of the Project................................................................................ 19

Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 20

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 21

APPENDIX............................................................................................................................. 26

Manual for Friendship Group: Social Skills Training for Elementary Grades........... 26

HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL.................................................................... 30

GROUP STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION.......................................... 31

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR SESSIONS ................................................... 34

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CHAPTER I

Introduction

The prevalence of behavior problems is a growing concern in schools. In order to

intervene effectively, it is important for schools to have an understanding of the factors

influencing the development of children’s behavioral problems. The presence or absence of

specific social skills provides the evidence that other individuals (e.g., parents, teachers, and

peers) use to make judgments about a student’s social competence. A student’s ability to

manage his or her relationship with peers and teachers successfully is associated with many

positive outcomes, such as acceptance by teachers, academic achievement, acceptance by

peers, positive peer relationships, and friendships (Lane et al., 2005). It is important to help

students build their social competence in an effort to promote school success. Social skills

are behaviors that need to be taught, acquired, and then practiced. It would be beneficial for

teachers and school counsellors to have access to a manual outlining the implementation of a

social skills group, with systematic procedures for enhancing social competence.

Social competence has been defined in various ways. Spence and Donovan (1999)

define social competence as the ability to obtain successful outcomes from interactions with

others. Social competence reflects the child’s capacity to integrate behavioral, cognitive and

affective skills in order to adapt flexibly to diverse social contexts and demands. Good social

skills enable children to interact with peers, form friendships, and develop socially acceptable

responses and behavior. Gresham (1997) defines social skills as specific behaviors (e.g.,

raising one’s hand and waiting to be called upon, inviting another student to join a group, and

so on) that a student demonstrates in order to perform appropriately on a given social task.

Gresham and Elliott (1993) add, “Social skills are socially acceptable behaviors that enable a

person to interact effectively with others and avoid socially unacceptable behaviors from

others” (p. 139). The authors propose that social skills involve cooperation, assertion,

responsibility, empathy, and self-control.

Children are continually required to handle a wide range of challenging social

situations. Social skills represent the ability to perform behaviors that are important in

enabling a person to achieve social competence. Spence (2003) postulates that social skills in

interpersonal relationships have a significant long-term influence upon psychological,

academic, and adaptive functioning. A meta-analysis of 43 studies (Erwin, 1994) of social

skills training effectiveness showed that social skills training produced significant

improvement in children’s level of social interaction and overall well-being. An underlying

premise of social skills training is that children with low peer acceptance do not have the

social skills required to develop and maintain positive peer relationships (Choi & Kim,

2003). Peer acceptance can affect academic achievement, adjustment in school, and

psychological well being in adulthood. Gumpel and Golan (2000) postulate that a child’s

ability to inte