Background: Increasing Self-efficacy in interpersonal relationships enhances intimate relationships with others and, in contrast, interpersonal problems lead to personal distress and poor performance in social relationships. Various treatment programs have been developed to treat children's behavioral, emotional, and social problems. Among these are the FRIENDS program and the Solution-Focused Kids’ Skills method training. There is a research vacuum in the comparison of these two programs on Self-efficacy in interaction in children.
Aims: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the Solution-Focused Kids’ Skills method and the FRIENDS program on Self-efficacy for peer interaction in children.
Methods: The method of this study was a semi-experimental pretest-posttest design with two experimental groups and a control group and a two-month follow-up. The statistical population of the study included all female students in the Second elementary Period schools in District 2 of Tehran in the academic year 2023-2024, using convenience sampling method, 45 students were selected as the statistical sample of the present study, according to the inclusion criteria, and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (15 students in each group). The data collection tool was the Children’s Self-efficacy for Peer Intraction Questionnaire (Wheeler & Ladd, 1982). The FRIENDS program (Barrett, 1991) and the Solution-Focused Kids’ Skills method training (Furman, 1990) were implemented separately in 10 sessions, 60-minute in the experimental groups. Data analysis was performed using mixed analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test using SPSS-21 software.
Results: The results showed that both the Solution-Focused Kids’ Skills method training and the FRIENDS program had a significant effect on Self-efficacy for peer interaction in children, but there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of the two programs (P< 0.05). The results of the Bonferroni post hoc test also showed that both experimental groups had a significant difference with the control group in the Self-efficacy variable and the "Non-Conflict" subscale, leading to a significant improvement in these variables (P< 0.05). Also, the results were still stable after two months of follow-up (P< 0.05).
Conclusion: According to the findings, it seems that by teaching the Solution-Focused Kids’ Skills method training and the FRIENDS program to Second elementary Period children, Self-efficacy for peer interaction in children can be increased.