Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of REACH and Process
Models on forgiveness, anger and depression among 11- to 19-year-old
adolescents in junior high schools in Bimbilla in the Northern Region of Ghana.
The study employed a mixed method design. The population for the study
comprised all junior high school students totalling 3632. Of this number, 1,888
(55%) of the students were males, while 1744(45%) were females. The accessible
population was 1,636 from eight (8) JHSs with 952(55%) of them being boys and
the remaining 684(45%) being girls. The participants were selected based on
their low levels of forgiveness and high levels of anger and depression
determined by Depression Mode Scale and Anger Self-Report. Purposive
sampling procedure was used to select 60 participants for the study, with each
group having 20 participants. Three main instruments were adopted for the study.
Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI). Anger self-report questionnaire (ASR), and
Depressed Mood Scale (DMS). One-way and Two-way Analysis of Covariance
(ANCOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. Both the REACH and Process
models are efficacious in reducing the level of forgiveness among adolescent JHS
students in Bimbilla. The results also revealed that the REACH and Process
models were efficacious in reducing the levels of depression and anger among
adolescents JHS students irrespective of their age and gender. In view of this, it
was recommended that the REACH model and Process model should be
considered for use as therapies for treating unforgiveness in order to improve
students‘ psychological well-being. In addition, it was recommended that
counsellors should encourage and support students/ clients who have emotional
problems such as anger, stress, anxiety and depression to participate in
forgiveness therapy groups whenever such groups begin. Counselling workshops
and seminars should be organised by the educational institutions in Bimbilla to
sensitise students and the general public on the efficacy of the two forgiveness
therapies in order to bring about a cordial relationships among the people of
Bimbilla
