The effects of functional group counseling on inspiring low‐achieving students’ self‐worth and self‐efficacy in Taiwan

In this study, we investigated the effects of functional group counseling on inspiring low achievers’ self‐worth and self‐efficacy in Taiwan. Forty‐three 10th grade low‐achieving students volunteered as the Experimental Group to join a 24‐week intervention, which integrated and utilized functional group counseling; another 51 10th grade low‐achieving students volunteered to be Comparison Group I. In addition, 43 10th grade moderate or high academic achieving students volunteered to be Comparison Group II. All participants completed the Vocational School Student Questionnaire at the beginning and end of this study to measure their self‐worth and self‐efficacy. In addition, six target students (two boys and four girls) with the lowest total scores on self‐worth or self‐efficacy in the pretest were selected from the Experimental Group to be interviewed at the end of the intervention and observed weekly. Analyses of variance, analyses of covariance, and paired t ‐tests assessed the similarity and differences among groups. The initial findings were as follows: Experimental group students had significantly higher scores on self‐efficacy and self‐worth than both Comparison Group I and Group II students and functional group counseling was shown to significantly affect the low‐achieving students. Qualitative results from interviews and observations were used for triangulation and consolidation of quantitative results. Implications of the study included the recommended use of functional group counseling with low‐achieving students.