A Family Counseling Program to Enhance Cyber Psychological Security among Couples Using Social Media Networks in Gaza Governorates

The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a family counseling program in improving cyber psychological security among spouses who use social media networks in the Gaza Strip. A quasi-experimental approach was adopted, involving a sample of 40 spouses divided into two groups: an experimental group of 20 spouses and a control group of 20 spouses, ensuring homogeneity between them in terms of cyber psychological security levels. The study utilized the Cyber Psychological Security Scale, developed by the researcher, which included dimensions such as cyber psychological awareness, self-protection and privacy empowerment, cyber challenge management, cyber psychological safety, cyber psychological and social support, cyber security awareness, cyber responsibility, and cyberspace time management. The family counseling program was applied to the experimental group through 18 counseling sessions over eight weeks. The results indicated that the relative weight average of cyber psychological security was 63.8%, with self-protection and privacy empowerment being the lowest dimension at 58.6%. Statistically significant differences were observed between the experimental and control groups after implementing the counseling program, favoring the experimental group. Additionally, significant differences were found between pre-test and post-test measurements, with the post-test results showing improvement in the experimental group. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the family counseling program persisted in the follow-up measurement conducted one month after its implementation.