The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behaviour Group Counselling on Bullies amongst the Secondary Schools Students in Malaysia (17 - 28)

Abstract

Abstract This experimental study is to assess the effectiveness of structured group counselling, suing a phenomenological-cognitive behavioural approach, on a pupil who was bullied. Two types of group counselling were developed, ‘the weekly group counselling’ and ‘the marathon group counselling’. The effectiveness of group counselling in reducing bullying behaviour was measured using four self-report scales related to bullying behaviour, empathy, aggressiveness, and self-esteem. The subjects (n=48), comprising of Form 2 and Form 4 pupils, were randomly assigned to two Form 2 and two Form 4 experimental groups and two wait-list control groups. Subjects were administered the pre-and post-test for the four self-report measures. Treatment consisted of weekly group counselling and marathon group counselling. Altogether experiment group subjects received 11 counselling sessions of two-hour duration per session, over six weeks. The treatment focused on the developing new belief systems and building empathy through cognitive restricting and role-play. Statistical analyses the experimental data wereMultivariate analyses of covariance-Mancova, and Post Hoc-Tukey. The significant level was set at .05. The study showed that the cognitive behaviour group counselling based on the integrated model of phenomenological-cognitive behavioural approach was significantly effective ini) reducing the bullying behaviour and aggressiveness of all the subjects; ii) increasing the empathy of all subjects and iii) increasing the self-esteem of Form 2 subjects. However, it had no significant effect in increasing the self-esteem on Form 4 Subjects. Group counselling can help reduce bullying while increasing the empathy.