The Effect of Bibliotherapy and Cinematherapy on the Friendship Qualities in Gifted Students: A Mixed-Methods Study

The friendship quality is defined by the strength of social relations with friends, who provide support and assistance, and the amount of time spent engaged in shared activities. The general purpose of this study is to examine the effect of friendship skills training programs based on cinematherapy and bibliotherapy on the friendship quality of gifted students. The study was conducted via an explanatory sequential mixed research method. In the first phase of the study, a pretest-posttest control group design was used. Quantitative data were collected on the effectiveness of the therapies program from two different experimental groups (cinematherapy and bibliotherapy) and one control group. Than, in the qualitative phase, data were collected from the experimental groups using interviews and reflective diaries in order to obtain in-depth information. The study demonstrated that the friendship qualities of gifted students improved significantly as a result of the therapies type. However, therapy type was not found to significantly difference in the FQ scores. Qualitative data indicated notable improvements in specific friendship skills including conflict resolution, approval and support, so on. These results suggest that both bibliotherapy and cinematherapy may serve as effective interventions for enhancing the quality of friendship among gifted children.