A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Solution-Based Group Counseling in Iranian Schools over the Past Decade

A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Solution-Based Group Counseling in Iranian Schools over the Past Decade   E. Mohammadyaari* S. Hosseyniyaan, Ph.D.**   During the past decade many researchers have studied the effectiveness of solution-based group counseling in improving characteristics such as self-efficacy, social adaptation, and academic motivation among school age children. Many of these studies have reported significant improvements, yet the exact impact is not known. To estimate this impact, a set of 24 studies meeting the methodological requirements of this study and conducted in high schools from 2007-2017 was selected to be meta-analyzed. The results of this analysis show that the impact is high (0.8) as the treated groups show an improvement of %47. Furthermore, the effect size on solving personal, inter-personal, and academic problems was estimated to be 0.23, 0.57, and 1.57 respectively corresponding to 16.7, 36.6, and 57.5% improvement. It is, therefore, suggested that this approach be utilized more extensively across schools.   Keywords: meta-analysis, solution-based group counseling, students    _______________________ Date received: Nov. 13, 2017                  Date accepted: Jun. 17, 2018 * Doctoral Student in Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran. [email protected] ** Professor of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran (Corresponding Author): [email protected]