Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Publication Date

6-15-1979

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adjustment to separation and divorce for individuals participating in a psychodramatic or an educational divorce adjustment group. Because of the rapidly rising divorce rate and the subsequent emotional upheaval that may accompany this process, the need for assistance in helping people through the divorce experience is receiving increased attention by mental health professionals. Subjects in this study were 54 volunteers solicited through multimedia announcements in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, metropolitan area. All subjects were administered the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale (FDAS) as a pretest measure during an initial orientation meeting. In order to ensure that each group had a heterogeneous mixture of both males and females and people at different levels of adjustment to divorce, the FDAS pretest Total Adjustment scores were ranked and divided into three groups for both male and female participants. The subjects were then randomly selected from each of the ranked groups and assigned to either the Educational, Psychodramatic, or the Control Group. The two treatment groups met once a week for six weeks for a total of 12 hours of group contact. The Control group did not receive treatment during this period. During the sixth week all subjects were again administered the FDAS. The results indicated that both treatment groups improved in divorce adjustment more than the control group, but the difference was not large enough to be statistically significant. A further analysis of the data indicated several marginal and significant effects with the educational level of group members, and the divorce-initiating-party factor on certain FDAS subscales. The lack of significant difference found in this study suggests that neither the Educational nor the Psychodramatic treatment group had an effect on the participants' adjustment to separation and divorce. It is speculated that the lack of significant effect was not due to the ineffectiveness of the two treatment groups, but rather to limitations within the design of the study.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Counseling

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Individual, Family, and Community Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Marion Jacob Heisey

Second Committee Member

Clifford Owen Morgan

Third Committee Member

Robert McMain

Fourth Committee Member

C. Patrick McCreevy

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