Evaluation of a Camp Intervention Program for the Social Integration of Foreign Children

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the intervention of a camp program designed for the integration for children, at risk of social exclusion. The research aimed to investigate a) the program’s effectiveness, b) the program’s opportunities for foreign children per gender and age and c) the attitudes between Greek and foreigners before and after the camp per gender and age. The sample consisted of 250 children (n=250) at the ages of 7-17 years who came from Greece (N=102) and abroad (N=48). After data analysis it was found that the program was very effective as the children, respect and interact with children from different countries and also statistically significant differences were found per gender and age (p<.001, p<.05). Furthermore, statistically significant differences were found between attitudes of Greek toward foreigners per gender and age before the intervention (p<.05), and after the intervention attitudes were more positive as «they desired to be more in contact with immigrant children» (t(402) =3.43, p<.001). It is the first time that is carried out and evaluated an intervention program for social integration and cohesion of immigrant children and its findings could be used for the confrontation of the significant problem, the integration of children, at risk of social exclusion.