Testing the Effectiveness of Psycho-Educational Program for Establishing Safe Relationships Based on Intimate Justice Theory

Abstract

Although romantic relationships are seen in every age range, it is seen that not every romantic relationship has the same quality. Individuals feel more secure and competent when they maintain a secure relationship. On the other hand, individuals who do not have a secure relationship are quite common. Although dating violence is seen in every period, its prevalence continues to increase and unfortunately leads to undesirable results. Although dating violence is first thought of as physical violence by individuals, it also includes verbal violence, psychological violence and sexual violence. In addition, there are studies that show that both women and men are exposed to dating violence. In particular, individuals in the transition period to adulthood, which coincides with their university years, are in the process of choosing a spouse after leaving the family. For this reason, romantic relationships in this period can affect the later periods of the individual's life. Unfortunately, there are individuals who are exposed to dating violence during their university years.This research aimed to test the effect of the psycho-educational program based on Intimate Justice Theory for college students to establish safe relationships. The research utilized the embedded mixed design. The study group was composed of 20 pre-service teachers (10 in experimental group, 10 in control group) in a state university in Turkey in the spring term of 2021-2022 academic year. The research data were collected via the Intimate Partner Violence Attitude Scale and a procedure evaluation form. The experimental group was subjected to a 9-session group psycho-educational program while there was no intervention for the control group. Analysis revealed that the participants in the experimental group had lower posttest scores compared to their pretest scores, but this decrease was not statistically significant. It was observed that the post-test scores obtained from the control group increased. In addition, the participants in the experimental group reported that they benefited from the program with regards to communication