Improving coping skills of emotionally disturbed boys through television-based social problem solving.

Ten specially selected videotapes, showing children involved in working through problem situations, were shown twice a week for five weeks to boys in special education classes at a residential treatment center, and were followed by discussions led by teachers and aides. Multiple overlapping control groups were used in a pretest, posttest, follow-up design. Results indicated clear gains in emotional control, personality functioning, and prosocial behavior and, at a two-month follow-up, gains in self-reliant learning by boys subject to the experimental condition.