Learning Our Lessons: A Proactive Approach to Bibliotherapy and Its Application to Children

Author

Marleah Augustine, Fort Hays State University

Document Type

Thesis

DOI

10.58809/LVUS8430

Date of Award

Fall 2009

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Carol L. Patrick

Abstract

The current study examined whether children can learn behaviors from fictional characters in books. Additionally, the researcher explored whether discussion of the topic at hand would improve the learning of those behaviors or if it would have no effect and reading alone can elicit change. Children in kindergarten and first-grade (n = 85) took both a pre-test and post-test about two separate topics, bullying and trying new things. They were assigned to four different groups: book only, discussion only, both book and discussion, and unrelated book. No significant differences were found between groups regarding the "trying new things" topic, whereas there were significant differences between groups regarding the "bullying" topic. The results indicate that bibliotherapy may be more effective for some topics rather than others or that children relate to characters or topics differently.

Comments

For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu

Recommended Citation

Augustine, Marleah, "Learning Our Lessons: A Proactive Approach to Bibliotherapy and Its Application to Children" (2009). Master's Theses. 3089.
DOI: 10.58809/LVUS8430
Available at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/3089

Rights

© 2009 Marleah Augustine