The Effectiveness of Lifestyle Change-Based Interventions with Emphasis on Educational Lifestyle on Educational Self-Concept of Veterans' Children

The problems that veterans face may have a negative impact on their children’s individual, social and educational performance. Therefore, the implementation of appropriate intervention programs is necessary to improve their status. This study aimed to investigate lifestyle change intervention effect, with an emphasis on the academic lifestyle, and on the academic self-concept of war victims’ children, according to Alfred Adler theory. This is a quasi-experimental study designed as pre-test and post-test. The study population included war victims’ children studying in high schools of Ardakan city, Iran, in 2016. Thirty students were selected by available sampling and were randomly assigned to either the interventional or control groups. The participants completed the academic self-concept questionnaire in three time intervals: before, after, and follow up after two months, between the pre-test and post-test. Lifestyle change-based treatment sessions were performed according to Adler's theory, with an emphasis on the students' educational lifestyle for the intervention group in 7 sessions of 90 minutes, once a week. There was no intervention for the control group. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Participants were matched regarding demographic variables including age, family income, and parents’ education. The self-concept (F=25.177) and its subscales including academic effort (F=15.493), and academic self-confidence (F=26.067) were improved in the post-test for the interventional group (p<.001); this improvement continued in follow-up. Academic self-concept of war victims’ children can be improved via lifestyle change interventions, with an emphasis on the academic lifestyle, according to Alfred Adler theory.