Tuncay Ergene

Effective Interventions on Test Anxiety Reduction : A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis synthesized the results from test anxiety reduction programs. Analyses were based on 56 studies (n = 2,482); the overall mean effect size (ES) for test anxiety reduction programs was E++ = 0.65 (95 percent confidence intervals [CI] + 0.58 to 0.73). On measures of anxiety reduction, the average individual completing treatment is seen as better off than 74 percent of those individuals who did not receive treatment. The treatment of test anxiety has been quite successful in reducing the test anxiety level of clients. The most effective treatments appear to be those that combine skill-focussed approaches with behaviour or cognitive approaches. Individually conducted programs, along with programs that combined individual and group counselling formats, produced the greatest changes. There is a serious lack of research on test anxiety reduction programs for primary, secondary and high school students.

A Window of Opportunity for the Transformation of National Mental Health Policy in Turkey Following Two Major Earthquakes

&NA; Striking at the nations highly populated industrial heartlands, two massive earthquakes in 1999 killed over 25,000 people in Turkey. The economic cost and the humanitarian magnitude of the disaster were unprecedented in the countrys history. The crisis also underscored a major flaw in the organization of mental health services in the provinces that were left out of the 1961 reforms that aimed to make basic health services available nationwide. In describing the chronology of the earthquakes and the ensuing national and international response, this article explains how the public and governmental experience of the earthquakes has created a window of opportunity, and perhaps the political will, for significant reform. There is an urgent need to integrate mental health and general health services, and to strengthen mental health services in the countrys 81 disparate provinces. As Turkey continues her rapid transformation in terms of greater urbanization, higher levels of public education, and economic and constitutional reforms associated with its projected entry into the European Union, there have also been growing demands for better, and more equitably distributed, health care. A legacy of the earthquakes is that they exposed the need for Turkey to create a coherent, clearly articulated national mental health policy.

High rates of depressive symptoms among senior high school students preparing for national university entrance examination in Turkey.

Tuncay Ergene, Ph.D., is supported by NIMH, ICORTHA Fogarty International Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) Research Training Program (D43TW05807) at Children’s Hospital Boston; Principle Investigator (PI): Kerim M. Munir, MD, MPH, DSc. Introduction The purpose of the present study is to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among senior high school students preparing national university entrance examination (OSS) in Turkey. The survey was conducted in the second term of students’ senior year at high school, a time when they were exposed to a stressful standardized national examination. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and to identify a possible association of depressive symptoms with other student and socio-demographic characteristics. We used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), adapted for Turkey, to assess self-reported depressive symptoms among 984 students. Overall, 45.1% of the students reported depressive symptoms. The relationship between the presence of depressive symptoms and student gender, family size, living circumstances, academic grade, number of times national exams were taken, monthly family income, daily study time, number of friends of opposite sex and involvement in social activities were examined. Gender, academic succes and monthly family income had statistically significant differences on BDI scores. The high rate of self-reported depressive symptoms reflects heightened exam-related stress, social expectations, worries about future success linked to uncertainty about securing a university placement and personal, familial and demographic factors. The greater prevalence of depressive symptoms among females (49.5%) compared to males (40.6%) highlights higher degrees of stress or vulnerability among female adolescents facing similar circumstances to males in Turkey.

Türk Ergenlerde Riskli Davranışların Yordanması

This study aims to investigate to what extent the variables of social support, internalizing behaviours and academic achievement predict adolescent risk behaviours. The sample population consists of 491 high school students in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 who were randomly selected out of 6 different high schools in Ankara. Our data collection instruments include the Risk Behaviours Scale (Genctanirim & Ergene, 2014), the Youth Self Report for 11-18 Year-Old Adolescents (Erol & Şimsek, 1998), the Perceived Social Support Scale (Yildirim, 2004), and a personal information form. We employed a structural equation model (SEM) to determine the strength of independent variables to predict the risk behaviours in question. Results indicated the significance of the model developed to predict adolescent risk behaviours. Accordingly, adolescent risk behaviours were significantly predicted by social support, rather than academic achievement and internalizing behaviours.

Süpervizyon Modelleri ve Modellere İlişkin Değerlendirmeler

Supervision is considered as one of the main component of counseling from the very beginning of counselor education to the last moment of professional practice. In recent years, supervision in counselor education in the United States of America and Europe has become a research area with its theoretical background, practical models and examples in Turkey. Although supervision studies carried out within this scope are promising; studies are limited. In the present study, the supervision models with their strengths and limitations are discussed in line with the literature to enlighten supervision processes. In the framework of commonly used psychotherapy models, psychodynamic, behavioral and cognitive models; under the heading of developmental models, integrated developmental models, process developmental models and life-span developmental models; and also in the framework of social role models, discrimination model, and Holloway’s system approach have been addressed. Lastly, the current status of supervision in Turkey, the position of supervision in counselor education, and applicability of these models into the supervision process in Turkey are discussed. This study, provides an opportunity to see different supervision models in a comparative manner and also it’s expected to shed light on the studies which will be carried out under supervision