Dhofar University completed the training of (90) psychologists and Sociologists in Dhofar Governorate schools

Dhofar University participated in the activities of the “My Values are Honesty” initiative, which was organized by the Municipal Council of Dhofar Governorate, in the period from (15-18 October) under the patronage of His Highness Mr. Marwan bin Turki Al Said, Governor of Dhofar Governorate, and aimed to address negative phenomena (bullying) among school students. Through awareness programs, instilling moral values and religious culture, raising awareness and self-monitoring to put an end to these socially harmful behaviors within the school environment in the governorate.

This contribution came through Professor Nasser Saidd Abdelrasheed, Professor of Psychological Counseling and Director of the Student Counseling Center, and Dr. Mosleh Musllam Al-Majali, Associate Professor of Psychological Counseling at the University, in preparing the scientific material and training program for the “My Values are Honesty” initiative, whose sessions extended for three days for (90) male and female psychologists and sociologists in Dhofar Governorate schools.

The program included identifying and diagnosing behavioral problems and bullying, applying practical and applied procedures to learn about bullying, training in designing and applying an observation form and case study, various tools for collecting and analyzing information, and applying standards and questionnaires to identify the spread of bullying and determine its level.

The training program also discussed methods of dealing with behavioral problems and undesirable behaviors and scientific steps to modify undesirable behaviors such as punishment, differential reinforcement, over-correction, gratification, erasure, and ignoring. It also touched on methods of modifying undesirable behaviors and the importance of learning by modeling, reinforcement, modeling, deprivation of reinforcement, and immersion.

The training axes included moral values and their importance for the individual and society, moral education, institutions of moral education and the most important moral values that must be instilled in students and their source from the Omani culture, which includes values, customs and traditions, as well as the Qur’an and Sunnah, how and the most important educational methods for instilling moral values. The training axis also addressed the stages of moral development in Al-Ghazali, Jean Piaget, and Kohlberg

For her side, Amal Bint Ahmed Alawi, Head of the Social Committee of the Municipal Council, praised the role of Dhofar University in preparing the scientific material and presenting the training program. This is considered a community participation of the university in promoting Omani human resource, expressing gratitude to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Amer bin Ali Al-Rawas, for giving and enriching, and for his unlimited support for the initiative.

The trainees expressed several impressions and feedback about the skills acquired through the training program, as it was comprehensive and addressed many behavioral problems, and the benefit of therapeutic plans to treat undesirable behaviors increased and dealt with moral values as a system that defines human behavior, as reported by the social worker Sharifa Bint Amer Ahmed. Al-Rawas, and as for Ali bin Mahad Al-Amri (psychologist), he believes that the program and the workshops and lectures it included added a lot of theoretical knowledge and applied skills to the trainees, which contribute to field work. Also, modern methods and scientific methods in modifying behaviors are of importance to the psychologists and scociologists according to the vision of Amin bin Ahmed Muhammad Al-Himyari

Aida bint Suhail Mahfouz Zaabnoot also indicated that discussing the methods that help specialists contributes to the ability to deal with the educational and behavioral problems common among school students. As for Saeed bin Masoud Beit Saeed, he says that benefit was achieved through understanding general concepts, specialized theories, and methods that help to understand human behavior and training on conducting case studies and benefiting from scientific steps in modifying undesirable behaviors, bullying, and modern methods of modifying behaviors.