Development and Evaluation of a Motivational Interviewing and Social Skills Training Based Group Counseling Program to Enhance Interpersonal Competence in First-year University Students

This study developed and evaluated a group counseling program based on Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Social Skills Training (SST) to enhance interpersonal competence among first-year university students. Based on Kim et al.’s (2011) program development model, the program was developed and implemented for over ten 60-minute sessions. Twenty-two students were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 11) and control (n = 11) groups. Interpersonal competence and college adjustment were measured before and after the program, and a follow-up test was additionally conducted with the experimental group to examine sustained effects. ANCOVA showed that the experimental group had significantly greater improvement in interpersonal competence than the control group, but no significant group difference was found in college adjustment. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant improvements in both variables over time within the experimental group, suggesting sustained program effects. Based on these findings, implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.