Designing and Validating a Family based Mental Empowerment Program for Improvement of Cognitive Processes, Psychological Hardiness and Academic Performance of slow learners’ students

The study reported in this paper aimed at developing and validating a family-based mental empowerment program to enhance cognitive processes, psychological hardiness, and academic performance of slow learners. The present study was fundamental in nature. The statistical population included psychologists and exceptional children's education specialists, family education instructors, and parents of slow learners in Tehran. The sample population consisted of three professors in psychology and exceptional children's education from the University of Tehran, three family education instructors, and three mothers of slow learners, selected through purposive sampling. The validation process of the studied program was carried out in five steps (reviewing theoretical foundations, reviewing previous research and existing programs, developing program content, validating the content, and explaining the program validation). The Delphi method was used for program content development, triangulation and Lawshe's content validity index were employed for content validity determination, and the expert agreement percentage method was used for determining the program’s reliability. The overall content validity coefficient of the sessions stood at 85%, and the program’s reliability coefficient was 86%. The family-based mental empowerment program aimed at enhancing cognitive processes, psychological hardiness, and academic performance of slow learners demonstrated high validity and reliability. Therefore, this program can be used to improve the cognitive and academic status of slow learners.