The effect of assertiveness training on quality of life and differentiation of dormitory female university students

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of assertiveness training on quality of life and differentiation in the female students of Islamic Azad University of Roudehen, who lived in dormitory. It was a quasi-experimental research involving pre- and post-testing. The statistical population consisted of all female students who lived in the dormitory of Islamic Azad University of Roudehen during the second semester of academic year 2014-15. Thirtyfemale students who received low scores in The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) scale (Ware & Sherburne,1992) and the Differentiation of Self Inventory-Revised (DSI-R) (Skowron& Friedlander,1998) were selected via convenience sampling and then were randomly placed into two equal-size groups: the experimental and the control group. The experimental group was trained on assertiveness as an independent variable in eight hour-long sessions (twice a week). The results of multivariate analysis of covarianceshowed that assertivenesstraining significantly affected quality of life and differentiation in the members of the experimental group. In other words, quality of life and differentiation were found out to be higher among the students who received assertiveness training in comparison to the ones who did not (p<0/01).