One of The First Studies on The Families of Delinquents in The Kingdom A Study at UoB Calls for The Use of Counseling Programs to Reduce Child Delinquency Rates

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Yasmeen Khalaf)

11 July 2023

A scientific study at the University of Bahrain (UoB) recommended getting the assistance of specialized family counselors, to help parents of children with behavioral deviations and aggression, and benefit from counseling programs in reducing child delinquency rates, calling for holding family dialogue sessions with family counselors, with the aim of improving communication with family members which will reflect positively on their children.

This came in a study titled: “The Effectiveness of a Counseling Program in Developing Awareness of Effective Parenting Methods for Parents to Reduce Violence Among Their Delinquent Children in the Kingdom of Bahrain”, conducted by Dalal Abdullah Al-Atawi, a student in the Department of Psychology at the College of Arts at UoB, as part of the requirements for obtaining a master’s degree in Family Counseling.

The study aimed to sensitize parents of delinquent children on the correct educational methods in dealing with their behaviorally disturbed children, guide them to reduce their level of violence, and develop the capabilities of workers in the field of family counseling for delinquent children.

The examination committee discussed the researcher in her thesis recently, and the committee consisted of: Professor of Social Sciences at the College of Social Sciences at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Professor Dr. Saad Abdullah Al-Mushawah, as an external examiner, and Professor of Psychology at UoB, Professor Dr. Mohammed Abu Zaid Miqdad, as an internal examiner. Also, the study was supervised by: Associate Professor of Psychology, Dr. Amani Abdulrahman Al-Shirawi, and Assistant Professor of Psychology, Dr. Sami Mohammed Al-Mahjoub, as an assistant supervisor.

The study is one of the first studies in specialized counseling programs on delinquents’ families in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and it proved the effectiveness of the counseling program implemented by the researcher on the sample, as the level of awareness of positive and negative parenting methods improved, which confirms the counseling program’s impact on mothers. As the findings of the study confirmed that mothers maintained the skills of the counseling program.

Researcher Al-Atawi said that the study sheds light on the most important effective methods and skills that parents can apply to address delinquent aggressive child behavior, noting that the respondents agreed that the counseling program achieved its goals, and that they received abundant information that contributed to raising their level of awareness and helped them focus on the important points in raising their children in effective ways that reduce the level of aggression among children.

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