The purpose of this study is to determine how Group Counseling Program activities affect runaway youth Social skills Activity. For this purpose, prior researches on runaway youth and literature about theories of Social skills Activity were reviewed, the results of which were reflected in constructing Group Counseling Program.
A Social skills Activity scale was used for runaway youth in pretest and post-test. For the constructed Group Counseling Program, runaway youth shelter were selected from runaway youth shelter Two selected groups were labeled as the experimental (10 runaway youth) and control (10) group and the former was provided with a total of 12 activities for six weeks. Data obtained went through t-test for differences between the two groups and effects on the experimental group on the basis of questions.
The main results can be summarized as follows:
The experimental group participating in Group Counseling Program showed higher scores in Negative Social skills Activity, adaptive Social skills Activity, among runaway youth than the control group, showing statistically significant differences. These activities were therefore found to be effective in runaway youth Social skills Activity.
These results demonstrate that Group Counseling Program activities can be used in runaway youth practices and produce positive changes in runaway youth Social skills Activity.
Key words: runaway youth, Social skills