Development of the Desirable Psychological Characteristics of the Students Major in Psychology at Kasetsart University by Group Counseling Program

Abstract

The purposes of this study were 1) to construct group counseling program to develop the desirable psychological characteristics of students of Psychology Department at Kasetsart University, 2) to compare desirable psychological characteristics of the experimental group before counseling, after counseling and at the follow up period, and 3) to compare desirable psychological characteristics between the experimental group and the control group before counseling, after counseling and at the follow up period.

The subjects consisted of 18 students of Psychology Department at Kasetsart University with total desirable psychological characteristics scores at the 25th percentile rank and lower; and they were divided into two groups : experimental group and control group. Each group composed of 9 students. The research instruments were a questionnaire of desirable psychological characteristics and a group counseling program. The data were analyzed by Two way repeated measure ANOVA and One way repeated measure ANOVA. The results of the study were as follows:  1. The desirable psychological characteristics group counseling program consisted of three stages: the initial stage, the working stage and the final stage. Integration of group counseling theories and techniques from different schools were applied to develop desirable psychological characteristics of students major in psychology at Kasetsart University. 2. The total score and each dimention score of the desirable psychological characteristics of the experimental group, posttest and follow up period were significantly higher than pretest at the .01 level. 3. The total score and each dimention score of the desirable psychological characteristics of the experimental group, posttest and follow up period were significantly higher than the control group at the .01 level. The results of this study indicated that the group counseling program was a key factor in increasing the desirable psychological characteristics of students major in psychology at Kasetsart University.