Effectiveness of Pennsylvania resiliency program on decreasing depression, Anxiety, stress symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes and increasing optimism in university students

Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Penn resiliency programs to decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and dysfunctional attitudes and increasing optimism of students.
the method of this study was experimental and adopted pretest-posttest control group design. A total of 34 undergraduate freshmen students among 1200 students in academic year 2013-2014 University of Shahid Beheshti were selected using convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The study instruments included Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, Revised Life Orientation Test and Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale. The Penn program on a weekly basis during six two-hour sessions was trained to experimental group.
The results of covariance indicated that Penn resiliency program was effective in decreasing scores of depression, anxiety, stress symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes and increasing optimism in students and that their permanence was observed two months after the experiment.
In sum, based on the results of the study, the Penn resiliency program is effective to decreasing symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and dysfunctional attitudes and increasing of optimism in students. It can be used in prevention of mental disorders in universities freshman students.