THE EFFICACY OF METACOGNITIVE THERAPY ON METACOGNITIVE BELIEFS, META WORRY AND ANXIETY OF PREGNANT WOMEN

Pregnancy anxiety, as well as meta-cognitive beliefs and pregnancy-related concerns, are the most common problems among pregnant women. These factors can have serious health consequences for the mother and the baby during pregnancy. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of meta-cognitive therapy on pregnancy anxiety, meta-worry, and meta-cognitive beliefs, in pregnant women in Tabriz. In this quasi-experimental study, a two-group design with pre and post-training was used. The statistical population of this study was pregnant women referred to gynecology and obstetrics centers of Tabriz, which were screened using the Vandenberg Pregnancy Anxiety Scale. 40 pregnant women who obtained high scores on this scale were selected as a sample by the available sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups of 20 participants (experimental and control). For the experimental group, meta-cognitive therapy was performed in 10 sessions of 45-60 minutes in 3 months. Vandenberg Pregnancy Anxiety, Wells Meta-Cognition, and Meta-Worry Questionnaires were used as the evaluation tools in the pretest and post-test. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS software version 23 using covariance analysis. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P <0.001). In other words, meta-cognitive therapy significantly reduced the women's Meta-Cognition, Meta-Worry, and Pregnancy Anxiety Scores and improved their health. Meta-cognitive therapy can be used as one of the most effective psychological interventions for the improvement of pregnancy anxiety, meta-worry, and meta-cognitive beliefs, in pregnant women.