A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial to Improve Social Problem-Solving Skills of Kunjing Children without Sufficient Parental Care

Abstract

Social problem-solving skills (SPS) are essential to child development, especially for kunjing children without sufficient parental care (KCw/oSPC). This study aimed to design and implement a group-based pilot intervention programme to improve KCw/oSPC’s SPS and assessed its effectiveness. This pilot intervention was a randomised controlled trial, fifty-seven KCw/oSPC at seventh grade (aged twelve to thirteen years) were recruited and randomly assigned into experimental (n = 24) and waiting (n = 33) groups. All participants in the experimental group received SPS training, whilst the waiting group did not receive any services at the research stage. Both pre- and post-test data about participants’ SPS from both groups were analysed with Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, respectively. Results indicated that KCw/oSPC’s SPS in the experimental group improved significantly, with large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.15). This pilot study, although with limitations, contributed to informing future social work intervention studies and practice to promote KCw/oSPC’s SPS in Mainland China and worldwide.