Design and Evaluation of a Dialogue-Based Intervention Package Based on Choice Theory for Students with High-Risk Behaviors

Badri, Rahim; Nemati, Shahrooz; Habibi, Hamdollah; Jalili Shishavan, Frahnaz

doi:10.22034/jiera.2026.567928.3427

Design and Evaluation of a Dialogue-Based Intervention Package Based on Choice Theory for Students with High-Risk Behaviors

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Rahim Badri ¹

Shahrooz Nemati ²

Hamdollah Habibi ³

Frahnaz Jalili Shishavan ⁴

¹ Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

² 2. Professor, Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Tabriz, Iran.

³ Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

⁴ 4. Ph.D. Student, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22034/jiera.2026.567928.3427

Abstract

Objective: Given the concerning rise in high-risk behaviors among adolescents and the existing gap in indigenous and sustainable interventions, this research aimed to design and validate the content of a dialogue-based intervention package based on William Glasser's Choice Theory for students exhibiting high-risk behaviors.
Method: This study was of a developmental mixed-methods type. In the qualitative part, using the Delphi method and comparative content analysis based on the principles of Choice Theory, a 12-session intervention package was designed. The content validity of the package was assessed through the opinions of 8 experts by calculating the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI). In the quantitative part and for the preliminary evaluation of effectiveness, three questionnaires Iranian Adolescents' Risk-Taking (Zadeh Mohammadi et al., 2011), Achivement Emotions (Pukrun et al., 2011), and health-oriented academic lifestyle behaviors (Salehzadeh et al., 2017) and a single-subject A-B design with two participants were used. The data were analyzed using visual-graphical analysis and the PND, NAP, and Tau-U indices.
Findings: The content validation results indicated that all sessions were deemed essential by the experts (CVR = 1) and their content was highly relevant to the session objectives (CVI = 0.94). The pilot implementation of the package also led to a significant increase in positive academic emotions and health-oriented behaviors, and a decrease in negative academic emotions during the intervention phase, with these changes sustained during the follow-up phase. Quantitative effectiveness indices (such as PND above 80% and NAP and Tau-U values above 0.70) confirmed a medium to large effect size for the intervention.
Conclusion: The designed intervention package possesses desirable content validity, and its preliminary implementation demonstrates the potential effectiveness of this dialogue-based intervention in reducing high-risk behaviors and improving emotional and health-related indicators in students. As an indigenous, systematic intervention tool based on principles of internal control, this package can address the gap in previous interventions and be used in school counseling settings. Conducting more extensive research with larger sample sizes is recommended for greater generalizability of the results.

Keywords

Choice Theory

Dialogue-Based Intervention

Risky Behaviors in Students

Content Validity

Subjects

Motivation and learning

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