Effectiveness of group counselling on psychological capital intervention for kindergarten teachers in rural China

Group counselling can assist teachers in better adapting to society and enhancing personality growth. Psychological capital also plays an important role in teachers’ professional development and career engagement. Nevertheless, the relationship between group counselling and the psychological capital development of kindergarten teachers is not fully understood. This study investigated the effects of group counselling on rural kindergarten teachers’ psychological capital status. A pre and post-test experimental design was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the group counselling programme on rural kindergarten teachers’ psychological capital in Fujian Province, China. The group counselling programme comprised three stages: initial, theme activity, and final stages, and was carried out for 8 weeks, with one topic per week, and 90 minutes for each session. The psychological capital questionnaire was used as an assessment tool to intervene with 40 kindergarten teachers in the form of group counselling. While no significant difference was recorded between the intervention and control group before the intervention (Self-efficacy; 15.26 vs 14.63, optimism; 18.53 vs 18.63, hope; 5.42 vs 15.53, resilience; 23.16 vs 22.63), the latter group exhibited significantly higher scores (p < 0.05) in the total psychological capital and the four dimensions (self-efficacy; 14.63 vs 17.11, optimism; 18.63 vs 20.32, hope; 15.53 vs 16.63, resilience; 22.63 vs 26.16) post-intervention compared to those in the control group. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications in the context of rural preschool education in China. Group counselling can effectively improve the psychological capital level of rural kindergarten teachers and their psychological capital status.