The Effects of Group Social Work Intervention on Children's Emotional Intelligence, Emotion Regulation Skills and Empathy Tendencies

The Effect of Group Social Work Intervention Based on Emotion-Focused Therapy on Emotion Regulation Skills, Emotional Intelligence and Empathic Tendency Levels of Children in Need of Protection

The general objective of this study is to determine the effects of an emotion-focused therapy-based group social work intervention on the emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency levels of children aged 9-11 years in need of protection and living in a children's home complex, and to explore the participants' experiences of the group intervention. The independent variable of the study is the emotion-focused therapy-based group social work intervention. The dependent variables are the children's emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency levels.

Within the framework of the stated general objective, the quantitative questions addressed in the study are as follows:

1. Is there a significant difference between the emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency scores between the experimental and control groups before the intervention?
2. Is there a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency of the participants in the experimental group after the intervention?
3. After the intervention, is there a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores on emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency of the participants in the control group?
4. After the intervention, is there a significant difference between the post-test scores on emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency of the participants in the experimental group and the post-test scores on emotion regulation skills, emotional intelligence, and empathic tendency of the participants in the control group?

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Emotion Regulation; Emotional Intelligence; Empathy Skills
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: group social work practice based on emotion-focused therapy

Detailed Description

-Participants in the study completed the Children's Emotion Regulation Scale (CRS), the BarOn Emotional Intelligence Test Child and Adolescent Form and the KA-Si Empathic Tendency Scale Child Form before the study began. Following the 12-session group process, the same scales were completed for both the experimental and control groups, and differences between the experimental and control groups were examined.

Some participants had difficulty reading and understanding the scale items during the pretest and posttest evaluation processes. Both tests were administered one-on-one with the participants, and those who did not understand were read one by one. The quantitative data collected were then entered into SPSS.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 38
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey (Türkiye)
  • Pursaklar
    • Ankara, Pursaklar, Turkey (Türkiye)
      • Ankara Çocuk Evleri Sitesi Müdürlüğü

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• • Be between 9 and 11 years old

  • Be able to read and write
  • Have no known traumatic event/abuse history
  • Have been accepted to the organization for at least 3 months (have adapted to the organization)
  • Have no severe/advanced psychiatric disability/diagnosis
  • Have been declared suitable by the group leader
  • Be willing to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• • Being outside the 9-11 age range

  • Being admitted to the institution less than 3 months ago or not yet having adapted to the institution
  • Being a foreign national
  • Not knowing Turkish
  • Having a history of abuse
  • Being hospitalized
  • Being a child who left the institution without permission
  • Being in the final stages of transfer and return to family

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: emotion-focused group social work; The group where 12 sessions of emotion-focused group social work were conducted	Behavioral: group social work practice based on emotion-focused therapy; Emotion-focused therapy, a therapy approach that prioritizes emotions over others, advocates for increasing emotional intelligence, which refers to using emotions as a developmental tool without being dominated by them (Greenberg, 2004b). Emotion-focused therapy, which places emotions at the center, is a practice that has recently become widespread in our country. It is stated that this approach helps individuals identify/be aware of their emotions, express them, make sense of them, appropriately modify/transform them, and use them in a healthy way; as a result, individuals are more successful in taking control of their lives (Greenberg 2010). From this perspective, it is believed that working with children in need of protection using this approach will be beneficial for the children themselves. The results of this study suggest that it may contribute to introducing an emotion-focused perspective into rehabilitative work with children under protection.
No Intervention: no emotion-focused group social work; no intervention group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
BarOn Emotional Intelligence Scale Child and Adolescent Form	This is a 60-item scale, with a minimum score of 60 and a maximum of 240. Higher scores indicate better outcomes, as they indicate improved emotional intelligence skills.	up to 12 weeks after registration
Emotion Regulation Scale for Children	The scale consists of 29 items and four subscales: anger (9 items), fear (8 items), sadness (7 items), and excitement (5 items). The lowest score is 29; the highest is 116. Higher scores indicate better outcomes.	up to 12 weeks after registration
KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale - Child Form	The scale consists of 13 items. The minimum score is 13, and the maximum score is 52. As the scale scores increase, empathic tendency increases, and as they decrease, empathic tendency decreases.	up to 12 weeks after registration

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Selcuk University
• Collaborators: aile ve sosyal hizmetler bakanlığı
• Investigators: Study Director: Serap D DAŞBAŞ, Prof. Dr., Selcuk University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chan KN, Elliman A, Bryan E, Silverman M. Respiratory symptoms in children of low birth weight. Arch Dis Child. 1989 Sep;64(9):1294-304. doi: 10.1136/adc.64.9.1294.
• Tarren-Sweeney M. The mental health of children in out-of-home care. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;21(4):345-9. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0b013e32830321fa.

Helpful Links

• The children's home site where the study was conducted is affiliated with this ministry.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 5, 2025
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 6, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 25, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 22, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 5, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): December 10, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 10, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 5, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: emotion regulation; emotional intelligence; emotion-focused therapy; group social work; child in need of protection; empathic tendency
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Social Behavior; Self-Control; Emotional Regulation
• Other Study ID Numbers: SU-SBT-MÖ-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: I haven't decided yet

Study Data/Documents

1. Clinical Study Report
   Information identifier: merve özkul/author

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No