Socio-pedagogical support of anxious children from internally displaced families

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Socio-pedagogical support of anxious children from internally displaced families

Kateryna Vitsukaieva

The issue of examining anxiety of children from internally displaced families, especially those living in difficult socio-economic conditions of compact settlements, is relevant and urgent for modern Ukrainian society and world in general. This is due to the fact that all children of this age need proper stimulation for adequate cognitive development. If adults encourage a child, praising for success, then the motivation for success is being formed in such a child, which is very important for the development of one's personality. 6-9-year-old children immensely trust adults, especially teachers, determine their authority, accept their judgments. Instead, constant family problems provoke manifestations of feelings of fear, anger, anxiety (Kiyanitsa, 2017), which negatively affects the learning process and in the future may lead to a pedagogical neglect. In this regard, the social-pedagogical support of 6-9-year-old anxious children from internally displaced families is of special importance. This category of children is special and requires specially developed ways, forms and methods to solve a number of existing problems which they face.

Aim and Tasks

The paper aims to highlight and substantiate the results of the implementation of the program of socio- pedagogical support for anxious children aged 6-9 from internally displaced families.

Tasks of the study are as follows: 1) to select appropriate methods of socio-pedagogical diagnostics of 6-9-year-old anxious children from internally displaced families; 2) to present a program of socio-pedagogical support for anxious children aged 6-9 from internally displaced families; 3) experimentally test the program of socio- pedagogical support for anxious children aged 6-9 from internally displaced families.

Research Methods

For the fulfillment of the specified tasks an empirical research was conducted, which involved 36 pupils of the center of creativity and development for children of settlers “Rostok” (Odessa, Ukraine), and their parents.

The evaluation of the socio-pedagogical aspects of anxiety development of children aged 6-9 from the internally displaced families was carried out according to the projective test for measuring children' s anxiety “Anxiety Test” (Choose the Right Person) by R. Tammle, M. Dorky, V. Amen (Dermanova, 2002). It provides diagnostic material helping to identify unfavorable zones of relationships which provoke negative emotions of a child.

Experimental diagnostic visual material is presented by 14 drawings: 5 of them characterize family anxiety of a child; 5 drawings describe the child's anxiety at school; 4 drawings describe personal anxiety. Every drawing describes a typical for a 6-9-year-old child life situation within a family and at school, and has two types: for girls (a girl is drawn in the picture) and for boys (there is a boy in the picture). The face of the child is not depicted, only the head contour. Each picture is provided with two additional drawings of the child's head, corresponding to the size of the head contour in the main picture. One of the additional drawings depicts the smiling face of the child, on the other one - sad. The choice of the appropriate face and verbal statements of the child were recorded in a special protocol.

The number of negative selections (sad faces), which were valued in 1 point, were considered the normative indicators. The higher the point of general anxiety is, the more indications of unfavorable family and school atmosphere are; rejection of the child by referential communities, which negatively affects the child's activity and selfesteem; diagnoses the adverse social and pedagogical situation of the child's development. Depending on the negative choice, the children are divided into 3 groups: children with a high level of anxiety (7 or more points); children with a moderate level of anxiety (from 4 to 7 points); children with a low level of anxiety (from 0 to 3 points).

As a result of the processing and interpretation of the data obtained with this method, we determined the level of anxiety of every respondent. In order to examine fears of children from internally displaced families, Children's Fears Inventory by O. Zakharov and M. Panfilova, and for their parents - Parental Attitude Test and a questionnaire by G. Lavrentyev, T. Tytarenko were applied.

Initial Empirical Results

As a result of the study on Children's Fears Inventory by O. Zakharov and M. Panfilova it has been found that 41.7% of the children have fears associated with an accident; 25% - fears of darkness, ghosts, evil spirits; 22.2% of children - fears associated with bad marks and 11% - fears of thunder, dark forest, spiders, snakes. The results are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Results of the Study on the Methodology for the Identification of Children's Fears Inventory (A. Zakharov and M. Panfilova)

The obtained data show that in 6-9-year-old children from internally displaced families most fears are associated with an accident. Consequently, we can assume that the fear of the probability of an accident is caused by the experienced events during the stay and move from the area of the antiterrorist operation in the east of Ukraine. Fear of getting a bad mark at school can be associated with the individual style of communication with a teacher and high demands of parents on the child's academic success, which is the reason for the anxiety for him/her. Fear of darkness is indicative of personality disorders of the child. Now let us present the results of assessing the level of anxiety in children according to the projective test for children's anxiety “Anxiety Test” (Choose the Right Person) by R. Tammle, M. Dorky, V. Amen in Table 2.

Table 2. Results of Assessing Anxiety Level in Children According to “Anxiety Test” Choose The Right Person

Table 2 shows that 55.5% of the children have a moderate level of anxiety, 33.3% have a high level of anxiety, and 11.1% have a low anxiety level.

The next step was to study the parental attitude according to the corresponding Parental Attitude Test, which is a diagnostic tool aimed at identifying parental attitudes among people seeking help with raising and communicating with children (Ovcharova, 2005).

Parental attitude is understood as a system of various feelings towards the child, behavioral stereotypes applied when communicating with him/her, peculiarities of perception and understanding of the character and personality of the child, his/her actions (Ovcharova, 2005). The results of the study of the attitude of parents to their children are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Peculiarities of Parents' Attitudes Towards Their Children

The data in Table 3 indicate that the type of the parents' attitudes to their children is not constant, it varies depending on a situation, conditions, etc. The “attitude- rejection” parenting style prevails in internally displaced families. This suggests that the children whose parents manifest such an attitude to them do not always receive support and approval. This type of attitude, in our opinion, can increase the level of anxiety in 6-9-year-old children.

Also high indicators according to the “Cooperation” scale mean that parents are engaged in the life and development of their children, as well as share their children's interests. However, the results according to the “Symbiosis” scale indicate that 75% of the parents consider themselves as a whole with their children and any desire or need of a child to be independent causes increased anxiety of the parents. Thus, we can conclude that the 6-9-year- old children from internal displaced families facing difficulties in real life feel anxiety and fear if they are left alone without an adult.

The analysis of the presented results makes it possible to state that the child-parent relationship is harmonious, but it is necessary to correct the parental attitude towards their children with a high level of anxiety: consultations, training of child-parent relationships for reducing the anxiety of children and their parents. We assume that the improvement of child-parenting relations is possible as a result of reducing the anxiety of parents, reducing authoritarianism, increasing empathy, emotionality, adoption of children.

It is believed that a high anxiety level in junior school children is the basis of many educational difficulties caused by the formation of various negative changes in the functional state (Keeton, 2009; Murray, 2009).

Hence, then we conducted a survey of parents using a questionnaire by G. Lavrentyev and T. Tytarenko, which is aimed at revealing the level of children's anxiety on the basis of comparison of the results of observation received from the researcher, the parents and the teacher. The results are given in Table 4.

Table 4. The Results of Parents' Survey about the Level of Their Children' Anxiety

The results of Table 4 show that 64% of the children have a moderate level of anxiety, 27.8% - high and 8.3% - a low level of anxiety.

Thus, we have identified a high level of anxiety in the children. They are characterized by uncertainty, instability, and the presence of numerous fears. They complain of nightmares, often cannot hold back tears, feel muscle tension.

The above-mentioned results of the study have made it possible to determine the target group and content of the program of social-pedagogical support for the children aged 6-9 from internally displaced families, which included three main units.

The Essence of the Suggested Program

The first unit - “Socio-Pedagogical Support of Parents of 6-9-Year-Old Anxious Children” - provided the implementation of socio-pedagogical work with parents of 6-9-year-old children with a high level of anxiety.

The purpose of this unit was to increase the psychological and pedagogical awareness of parents; to encourage parents to improve their own pedagogical experience; to establish positive family relations.

The tasks of a social teacher at this stage are as follows: 1) to organize joint interaction of parents and their anxious children; 2) to increase the awareness of parents about the psychological and pedagogical characteristics of this age of their children; 3) to familiarize parents with the problem of anxiety in 6-9-year-old children; 4) to promote the establishment of positive family relationships between parents and children.

In order to achieve the goal set within the first unit, we created a group of parents and selected a number of tools to achieve the goal.

The main activities that were carried out within this unit are as follows: conversations on the topic “Peculiarities of Junior School Children's Behavior”; mini lectures “Anxious Child”, “Methods of Interaction with Children”; training sessions were aimed at an objective assessment of the real experience of family education, encouraging parents for self-realization and taking care of themselves, the formation of necessary qualities for parents to improve their educational potential; organizing a joint training session for parents and anxious children aimed at cognition of their actions, emotions, and thoughts (tasks for parents), establishing relationships between children and their parents and removing emotional stress; developing and suggesting methodological recommendations for parents of anxious children in the form of brochures; involvement of parents in school activities, concerts, competitions, etc.

The second unit - “Socio-pedagogical support of Volunteers (Future Social Workers and Social Pedagogues)” - provided their direct preparation for work with 6-9-year-old anxious children from internally displaced families and getting acquainted about innovative technologies of work with them.

To organize the socio-pedagogical support of educators and volunteers (future social educators, social workers), the following events were carried out: round table “Anxiety of Junior School Children from Internally Displaced Families: Causes and Consequences”; scientific seminar “Methods and Forms of Socio-Pedagogical Support for Internally Displaced Families with Children”; Dispute and Round Table “Peculiarities of Socio- Pedagogical Activity with the Modern Family”; etc.

The tasks of a social teacher at this stage are as follows: 1) to increase awareness of volunteers (future social educators, social workers) regarding socio-pedagogical activities with internally displaced families with children; 2) practical training for working with internally displaced families.

The third unit - “Socio-Pedagogical Support of 6-9-Year-Old Anxious Children from Internally Displaced Families” - was focused on work directly with the children with a high level of anxiety.

Purpose: social and pedagogical support for the specified category of children in order to reduce their level of anxiety and emotional stress.

The main activities that were carried out within this unit are as follows: training sessions aimed at removing muscular and emotional stress (cohesiveness games, breathing exercises, techniques for relieving stress), expanding the scope of social contacts in the team, establishing a supportive atmosphere of trust and cooperation; art therapeutic classes aimed at relieving stress, harmonizing the emotional states of children, stimulating creative self-expression, increasing self-esteem, developing creative and communicative abilities; using the fairy tale therapy on the topic “What it means to be good”, which was aimed at helping a child understand his/her inner world and personal values, in support of the motivation of children to learn and realize themselves.

The task of a social educator at this stage was to identify priority areas of work with children and to create the appropriate conditions for their implementation; to provide assistance in establishing positive, friendly relations with the surrounding environment.

It should also be noted that every training session was accompanied by relaxation exercises at the end of it.

Final Results

6 children with a high level of anxiety and their parents took part in the main experiment and were engaged in the program as an experimental group. The control group consisted of 6 children with a high level of anxiety who were not involved in the program though.

Upon completion of the program of socio- pedagogical support for anxious children aged 6-9 from internally displaced families, the assessment of its effectiveness was carried out by means of comparing the EG and CG results before and after its implementation.

According to the research outcomes, we can see positive dynamics in the experimental group and its absence in the control one. Thus, the general arithmetic indicator of the anxiety level in the experimental group was decreased by 2.4 points. As for the control group, the results remained unchanged. The results are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Results of Assessing Anxiety Level of Children Before and After the Program Implementation (According to “Anxiety Test”)

The obtained results show the reduction of anxiety level of every respondent in the experimental group which is indicative of the effectiveness of the implemented program. Consequently, the program of socio-pedagogical support helps to reduce the level of anxiety in 6-9-year- old anxious children from internally displaced families.

Conclusions

At the beginning of the experiment, 36 children aged from 6 to 9, and their parents from internally displaced persons participated in the study. The results of the study of the socio-pedagogical situation of anxiety development in children aged 6-9 from internally displaced families were obtained with the help of a set of social and pedagogical diagnostics selected by us and made it possible to identify the main problems, and anxiety levels (low, medium and high) of 6-9-year-old children from internally displaced families.

References

anxious pedagogical child educational

1. Dermanova, I.B. (2002). Diagnostika emotsionalno-nravstvennogo razvitiya [Diagnostic of emotional and moral development]. Saint Petersburg: Rech [in Russian].

2. Zaharov, A.I. (2000). Dnevnyie i nochnyie strahi u detey. Seriya «Psihologiya rebenka». [Day fears and nightmares in children. Child Psychology]. Saint Petersburg: «Izdatelstvo SOYuZ» [in Russian].

3. Ovcharova, R.V. (2005). Spravochnaya kniga sotsialnogo pedagoga [Reference book of a social teacher]. Moscow: TTs Sfera [in Russian].

4. Kyianytsia, Z.P., Petrochko, Zh.V. (2017). Sotsialna robota z vrazlyvymy simiamy ta ditmy: posib. u

5. The analysis of the results became the basis for the development of the program of socio-pedagogical support for 6-9-year-old children from internally displaced families, which consisted of three units. The main stages of the interaction of a social teacher with 6-9-year-old anxious children, their parents, as well as volunteers and educators are described.

6. The program of socio-pedagogical support of 6-9-year-old anxious children from internally displaced families was tested experimentally. The program testing involved 6 children with a high level of anxiety and their parents. The control group consisted of 6 children as well. As a result of the program implementation, positive dynamics in the experimental group concerning the reduction of the anxiety level and its absence in the control one could be observed, which is indicative of its efficiency. Therefore, the suggested program can be used for reducing anxiety in children.

7. 2-kh ch. [Social work with vulnerable families and children: study guide]. Kyiv: OBNOVA KOMPANI [in Ukrainian].

8. Keeton, C., Kolos, A., Walkup, J. (2009). Pediatric generalized anxiety disorder: epidemiology, diagnosis, and management. Paediatr Drugs, 11, 171-183 [in English].

9. Murray, L., Creswell, C., Cooper, P. (2009). The development of anxiety disorders in childhood: an integrative review. Psychological Medicine, 39(9), 1413-1423 [in English].

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