The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral intervention on Reducing Anxiety Symptoms and Improving the Quality of Life of First Period High School Male Students with Test Anxiety

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• majid pour hamidi ¹
• sirous sarvghad ²
• Azarmidikht rezaei ²
• Hossein Baghouli ²

¹ PhD student of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran

² Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran

10.30495/jedu.2023.22872.4631

Abstract

Introduction: Test anxiety is a type of situational anxiety (certain phobia) that has a certain state of general anxiety including phenomenological, physiological, and behavioral responses to fear of failure and negatively affects one's quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy on reducing anxiety symptoms and improving the quality of life of students with test anxiety.
research methodology: The present study was an experimental study (with pre-test, post-test, and a 3-month post hoc study) in which repeated measures analysis of variance with control group were used. From among the first period high school male students of CHENAR SHAHIJAN in Fars province, 50 individuals with test anxiety disorder were selected and assigned into experimental and control groups. Data were collected using Friedman & Jacob Test Anxiety Inventory (1997) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument- Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF). The treatment protocol comprised using Wilder Mouth Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques in 9 sessions of one and a half hour weekly. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc test using SPSS 22.
Findings: Cognitive behavioral therapy causes significant changes (p <0.0001) in the posttest test and post hoc of both variables. It decreases the students' test anxiety symptoms and improving their quality of life.
Conclusion: It seemed that the psychological intervention in the post-test and post hoc reduced students' test anxiety scores in three dimensions of social humiliation, cognitive error and stress, and improved their quality of life. thus this method can be part of the treatment of anxiety in the future and can be effective in improving the quality of life of individuals with test anxiety.

Keywords

• Cognitive Behavioral therapy
• Quality of Life
• Test Anxiety

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