Comparing the Effectiveness of Reality and Forgiveness Therapies in Improving the Quality of School Life (QSL) in Children with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Aim: The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of reality and forgiveness therapies on the quality of school life (QSL) of children with learning disabilities. Methods: The present research had a three-group semi-experimental pretest-posttest type (two experimental groups with a control group), with a follow-up phase. The statistical population consisted of male students of the first to the fifth grades of primary schools with various learning disabilities who visited the Learning Disability Center of Saravan County in the academic year 2019-2020, and 45 eligible individuals, who volunteered to participate in the research, were selected by the convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group (15 individuals per group). The experimental group of reality therapy received the intervention of Glaser's educational package (2001) and the experimental group of forgiveness therapy received the intervention of Lovafpour Nouri's therapy package (2014). All three groups were evaluated using the quality of life scale by Burke and Smith (1989) at three stages. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 23 and repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The test results indicated that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in quality of school life (p<0.01) components. The difference between the mean scores of the control group and the mean scores of the reality and forgiveness therapy groups was significant (P<0.01). Conclusion: Reality and forgiveness therapies improved the quality of school life in students with learning disabilities. Forgiveness therapy was more effective than reality therapy.