Adolescents’ experiences following a group-based intervention for at risk youth exposed to violence

Abstract

South Africa has amongst the highest rates of violence in the world. Research has revealed that school-aged children who are exposed to family and community violence present with a greater frequency of internalising and externalising behaviour problems. Furthermore, those who have been abused and neglected are more likely to exhibit a wide range of academic, personal and socially maladaptive behaviours including poor academic performance, crime, emotional problems, sexual misconduct and alcohol and substance abuse. Based on the need for psychological interventions and lack of community resources, a group of masters’ psychology students developed a psychological intervention for a group of adolescents who had been exposed to various forms of violence. The intervention was implemented as part of the counselling psychology students’ practical training and aimed to target emotional, behavioural and coping strategies that would teach the adolescents to interact healthily with their environment. The purpose of this study was to understand the participants’ experiences following their participation in this group-based intervention. Design: A qualitative research design was adopted. Sampling: Purposive sampling was employed to select participants for the focus group discussions. Data collection: Two focus group discussions were conducted with six participants. The first focus group discussion was held the week following their completion of participation in the intervention and another again two months after their participation. Data Analysis: Thematic analysis was used to explore and interpret the results. Findings: Four main themes were identified: the contribution of group processes to participation in the group intervention; improvements in self-management skills; interpersonal awareness; and the benefit of the intervention for others. Conclusions: The results from the study revealed that participants perceived themselves to have benefitted from their participation in the intervention and they supported the implementation of the intervention at schools and advocated for ongoing support for themselves and for other adolescents.