Effects of Group Counselling on the Multicultural Identity and Sense of Belonging of Adolescent TCKs in a Chiang Mai International School Setting
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Abstract
Due to their cross-cultural lifestyle, adolescent Third-Culture Kids have unique developmental needs, namely, integrating their various cultural identities and building a sense of belonging wherever they live. The present study aimed to assess the effects of group counselling on the multicultural identity and sense of belonging of adolescent TCKs in a Chiang Mai international school setting. A group counselling programme was designed to help the members to explore their cross-cultural experiences and develop a more integrated cultural identity and a stronger sense of belonging. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test treatment-control group design, participants (N = 18) were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group and participated in a school-based group counselling programme consisting of 10 sessions, each lasting 50 minutes. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, dependent t-test, and independent t-test. Results of the statistical analyses following the group counselling intervention showed a trend towards significance between the pre-test and post-test identity integration scores, as well as an almost significant difference between the pre-test and post-test sense of belonging scores of the experimental group. In addition, compared to the control group, the experimental group showed a significantly higher integration score and a sense of belonging score, which trended towards significance following the group counselling intervention. These findings offer promise for the development of school-based group counselling interventions designed to help adolescent TCKs to integrate their cultural identities and increase their sense of belonging. However, practical steps should be taken to increase the effectiveness of such interventions, and further research is needed.
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