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Research code: ۱۵۹۳۴۸۸۲۶۷۸۹۹۵۹۴۱۰۰۳۰۱۶۲۸۹۳۳۴۹
Ethics code: IR.IAU.TON.REC.1403.125

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Mollaahmadi Gomol B, Sadeghi A, Abolghasemi S. Comparing the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Positive Psychotherapy on Mental Well-Being of Secondary High School Male Students with Social Anxiety Disorder. MEJDS 2025; 15 (0) :61-61
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3631-en.html
Comparing the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Positive Psychotherapy on Mental Well-Being of Secondary High School Male Students with Social Anxiety Disorder
Bahram Mollaahmadi Gomol1 , Abbas Sadeghi *2 , Shahnam Abolghasemi3
1- PhD Student, Department of Educational Sciences and Counseling, To.C., Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
2- Associate Professor, Department of Educational Sciences and Counseling, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
3- Associate Professor, Department of Counseling, To.C., Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
Abstract:   (368 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: One of the anxiety disorders that is more prevalent in adolescence and considered one of the most important and disabling anxiety disorders during school is social anxiety. Students with social anxiety experience lower subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is an integrated process that is independent of mental illness and encompasses the concept of optimistic growth, which extends beyond happiness. The subjective well-being variable of students is one of the variables related to social anxiety. One intervention is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) therapy. Mindfulness has its roots in Eastern thought traditions and is often associated with the formal practice of mindfulness meditation, defined as intentionally paying attention to present-moment experiences in an open and non-judgmental way. Another intervention is positive psychotherapy. This intervention is designed to promote positive feelings, behaviors, and thoughts, thereby increasing subjective well-being and fostering positive growth. This research compares the effectiveness of MBSR and positive psychotherapy on the subjective well-being of secondary high school male students with social anxiety disorder.
Methods: The present research method was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and two-month follow-up design with a control group. The population of this study included all male secondary high school students in Lahijan City, Iran, in 2024. Of them, 52 qualified volunteers were included in the study through purposive sampling. Then, they were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The inclusion criteria for the subjects in the study were as follows: willingness to participate in the study, education in the secondory high school, having a score higher than the cutoff (score of 44) on the Social Anxiety Scale, not participating in psychotherapy sessions at the same time or in the three months before the study, not suffering from severe physical or psychological disorders. The exclusion criteria for the study subjects were as follows: absence of more than two sessions, failure to complete or distort the questionnaires, failure to cooperate, and failure to complete the assignments during the training sessions. The research questionnaire was the Adolescents' Subjective Well-being in School Scale (Tian et al., 2015). To perform therapeutic interventions, MBSR and positive psychotherapy were implemented for the experimental groups in eight 120-minute sessions. At the same time, the control group did not undergo any psychotherapy intervention. Ethical principles, including voluntary sampling, informed consent, confidentiality of information, participants' freedom to withdraw from the research, etc., were observed in this study. For data analysis, statistical methods were used at two levels: descriptive and inferential statistics. In descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation, and graphing were used. To test the hypotheses, analysis of variance with repeated measures and a Bonferroni post hoc test were used. Data were analyzed in SPSS software version 26 at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: The results showed that the effects of time (p<0.001), group (p<0.001), and the interaction of group and time (p<0.001) on the subjective well-being variable and its components, including satisfaction with school and affect at school, were significant. There was a significant difference between the two experimental groups and the control group in the subjective well-being variable and its components (p<0.05). In the subjective well-being variable and its components, the difference between the two experimental groups was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The mean scores of the subjective well-being variable and its components in the experimental groups were significantly different between the pretest, posttest, and follow-up assessments (p<0.001). There was also no significant difference between the posttest and follow-up, indicating the durability of the effectiveness of these two interventions in the follow-up phase (p>0.05).
Conclusion: According to the findings, both MBSR and positive psychotherapy have an effective role in increasing the subjective well-being of secondary high school male students with social anxiety disorder, and neither of them is superior to the other. Therefore, the research results can guide schools, educators, and policymakers in creating supportive environments that promote students' mental health.

Keywords: Mindfulness-based stress reduction, Positive psychotherapy, Subjective well-being, Students, Social anxiety disorder
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Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology
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