The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy on happiness and mental health of nursing students

Cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy are known as two common methods to promote happiness and mental health. This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy in improving happiness and mental health of nursing students who referred to counseling center in Islamic Azad university of Mashhad Branch.
This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population included all nursing girl students who referred to counseling center in Islamic Azad university of Mashhad Branch in 2014 year. 45 girl students were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to three groups (each group 15 students) included experimental and control groups. The experimental groups educated by cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy in 10 sessions (each session for 70 minutes). All of groups completed the questionnaires of happiness (Argyle and Lu) and mental health (Goldberg and Hillier) as the pre-test and post-test. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and multivariate analysis and covariance methods.
The findings showed the happiness post-test mean of cognitive behavioral, schema therapy and control groups was (3.78±1.19), (3.67±1.12), and (1.96±0.65) respectivly. Also, the post-test mean of mental health in cognitive behavioral, schema therapy and control groups was (3.23±0.91), (3.12±0.87), and (1.68±0.70) respectivly. Moreover, there was a significant difference among experimental groups, cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy with control groups (P The results of this study showed that both cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy methods can increase happiness and mental health in nursing students. So, it suggests that therapists use these methods to improve happiness and mental health in students.