Attachment-based psychosocial programme for under-privileged school children with adverse life experiences in Istanbul, Turkey

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-10-23, accepted 2022-09-27, registration 2022-09-30, pub-electronic 2022-10-08, online 2022-10-08, collection 2022-12Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements: The attachment-based psychosocial programme we implemented would not have been possible without the support we received from the Maltepe University and the local municipality where the school is located. We would like to thank professors and students from different faculties of the university, the primary school headmaster, teachers, school management, school support staff and local community and voluntary organisations for the pivotal roles they played during the formation and delivery of the psychosocial programme.Publication status: PublishedRobert White - ORCID: 0000-0001-8782-9791 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8782-9791Abstract: Children experiencing educational neglect are likely to experience the harm associated with adverse life experiences and a range of emotional and psychological challenges. Using attachment theory and psychosocial frameworks, we devised and implemented an intervention designed to ameliorate the deleterious effects of challenging behaviours in an elementary school situated in a deprived neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey. For a period of eight months, 160 pupils received a psychosocial intervention once a week. Children’s patterns of behaviour, emotions, movements, interactivity, socialisation and interpersonal communications were observed during this period. Core activities of the intervention included library visits, reading, writing and listening games, maths games, drawing, animal animation, leaf making, ball games, parachuting games, colouring, hula-hoop and driver-car role plays. At the end of the intervention, one group of children made significant improvements in behavioural changes while no improvements were observed for another group. Although further research is required to generalize beyond the reference group, the findings suggest that a robust collaboration between inter-agency community partnership and universities can play a crucial role in responding to the needs of marginalized children with psychological and emotional problems.pubpu