Vosper, Bronwyn (2021) Peace by Piece Group Therapy Program: Improving Self-Compassion and Resilience in Middle Childhood. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Middle childhood is an important stage in human development: Biological and environmental factors and increasing social competition can lead to internalising symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, and externalising symptoms, such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Disruptive Behavioural Disorders (DBDs). Indeed, psychopathology onset frequently occurs in this developmental stage; children who have a psychiatric disorder are three times more likely to receive a subsequent diagnosis in adulthood. Therefore, finding psychological treatment approaches appropriate for middle childhood is imperative. Self-compassion based interventions have been shown to significantly improve psychosocial outcomes across diverse populations; however, programs targeting pre-adolescent children are not as widely developed as programs based on cognitive behaviour therapy or mindfulness. The Peace by Piece (PbP) program was developed to combine self-compassion and mindfulness training for children and an accompanying parent in a group therapy format. In the pilot program, children aged 7-9 years showed improvements in their wellbeing and resilience, parents reported improvements in the quality of the child-parent relationship, and the program was received well by the participants. The aim of the current research was to test the reproducibility of the results from the pilot program showing improvements in children’s resilience and self-compassion, and the benefits of having parent participation, on children within the same developmental period. Data was gathered through questionnaires administered to the children and the parent participants at the start and end of the 6-week PbP program, and interviews with participants following program completion. Analysis of the quantitative data indicated that the program was effective in enhancing children’s self-compassion and resilience. Analysis of qualitative data supported these findings and provided confirmation on the feasibility of the program for this age group. Areas suggested for future research include a comparison of mindfulness-based interventions with self-compassion based interventions. This study adds to the growing body of research exploring the effectiveness of group therapy treatment programs teaching self-compassion to pre-adolescent children.
|
Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Victoria Barclay-Timmis |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Aug 2025 23:02 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Aug 2025 23:02 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | self-compassion ; middle childhood ; pre-adolescent ; mindfulness ; intervention |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52848 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Archive Repository Staff Only |
