Design and Validation of a Psychological Empowerment Program for University Students from Divorced Families
Keywords:
Parental divorce, psychological empowerment, university students, thematic analysis, psychological resilience, content validationAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to design and validate a psychological empowerment program grounded in the lived experiences and specific psychosocial needs of university students from divorced families.
Methods and Materials: The study employed a qualitative developmental design. Participants included 15 dentistry students from divorced families, aged 19–28 years, who were selected through purposive sampling, with recruitment continuing until thematic saturation was reached. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews addressing the psychological, emotional, relational, social, educational, and economic consequences of parental divorce. The interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis based on Attride-Stirling’s thematic-network approach with the assistance of MAXQDA software. The extracted themes were integrated with relevant psychological theories and intervention models to develop a ten-session psychological empowerment program. Content validation was subsequently conducted by 12 experts in clinical psychology, counseling, health psychology, and family studies. Expert judgments concerning necessity, relevance, clarity, simplicity, sequencing, and feasibility were examined using the Content Validity Ratio and Content Validity Index.
Findings: The analysis generated 397 initial codes, which were consolidated into 79 basic themes, 15 organizing themes, and five global themes: the lived experience of difficulties associated with parental divorce, psychological resilience, strengthening communication skills, personal and cognitive development, and development of social support. These themes informed ten intervention sessions focused on acceptance, resilience, cognitive reconstruction, communication, coping, self-compassion, future planning, support-network development, integration, and maintenance. In the initial validation, the overall Content Validity Ratio was 0.72 and the Content Validity Index was 0.89. Following expert-recommended revisions, all sessions exceeded the required validity threshold, while the overall indices increased to 0.73 and 0.91, respectively.
Conclusion: The developed program demonstrated adequate conceptual coherence and content validity and provides a multidimensional, context-sensitive framework for strengthening psychological empowerment among university students from divorced families.
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References
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