The Effectiveness of Personal Construct Counseling on the Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents with Mild Physical Disabilities: A Single-Case Multiple-Baseline Study

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents with physical disabilities may experience psychological and social challenges that adversely affect their well-being. Personal construct counseling may help these adolescents reinterpret their experiences and develop more adaptive ways of understanding themselves and their environment. This study evaluated personal construct counseling in adolescents with mild physical disabilities. Case Presentation: A single-case experimental multiple-baseline design was used in six adolescents with mild physical disabilities. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling and had scores below the cutoff points on Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS; cutoff = 72) and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28; cutoff = 83). Baseline measurements were obtained before the intervention, and outcomes were assessed weekly during eight individual counseling sessions based on personal construct therapy. Visual inspection and Tau-U analysis showed improvements in psychological well-being and general health across participants. The weighted mean Tau-U was 0.924 for psychological well-being and 0.903 for general health. Conclusions: Personal construct counseling was associated with improvements in psychological well-being and general health among adolescents with mild physical disabilities. Further controlled studies with larger samples are warranted.