The Effect of Positive Emotion Training Program on Psychological Well-being of Students with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a neurological disorder that affects the brain ability to receive, process, maintain, and respond to information. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of Fredrickson’s positive emotion training program on the psychological well-being of students with dyslexia.

The research design was experimental, with control and experimental groups and pre- and post-test. The statistical population included all female students of grade three to six who were studying in public primary schools of the five educational regions of Isfahan city. The sample included 30 female students with dyslexia aged between 9 and 12 selected through multi-stage random sampling. The reading and dyslexia test was administered to identify the learning disability of the students and 30 students with dyslexia were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received positive emotion training during 12 sessions, each 45 minutes. Psychological Well-Being Scale for Children (PWB-c), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and reading and dyslexia test were used for data collection and the data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results revealed the efficacy of positive emotion training on the psychological well-being of students with dyslexia (p< .0001). Given the close relationship between emotions and psychological well-being, recognizing and focusing on various emotions (e.g., joy, appreciation, serenity, interest, hope, honor, amusement, recreation, awe and love) have a significant role in better self-awareness, effective and positive interaction with others, and changing the negative automatic thoughts and behavioral and emotional responses, and help individuals with dyslexia to adapt to changes and stressors caused by the problems and outcomes of this disorder.

The findings confirmed the effectiveness of this program in improving the psychological well-being of these students.