Emotional Expression Training on Anxiety, Quality of Life, and Perceived Academic Control in Students

Life is full of challenges that need to be solved. Besides, emotions as responses to these challenges, stresses, and problems help us cope with the major life events. Emotions are among the dimensions of human existence; the role of emotions in life is so prominent that it is impossible to imagine their absence. Being emotionally–empowered facilitates encountering life challenges. The present study aimed to explore the effects of emotional expression on anxiety reduction, quality of life, and perceived academic control among students.

This was a quasi–experimental research with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population included all undergraduate students of Islamic Azad University of Sari Branch in the academic year of 2019. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) questionnaire, and Perry et al.’s Questionnaires were used to recruit undergraduate students (cut–off scores; anxiety: >16, quality of life: <70, & academic control: <20). The study samples who obtained the required scores were selected among volunteer participants. Therefore, 40 individuals were randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control (n=20/group) based on the results of pretest and research inclusion and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria were the age of 25–50 years, no drug use, providing informed consent for participation in the study, no history of psychiatric hospitalization, no history of divorce, and receiving no psychological training in the past 6 months. The exclusion criteria were the presence of cognitive impairment, concurrent participation in other psychotherapy sessions, and withdrawal from the research project. Therefore, 9 one–hour sessions of emotional expression training were conducted to the test group for two months. This training was based on recent advances in the Emotional Protocol and Emotional Expressions, developed by Nyklícek, Temoshok, and Vingerhoets. Furthermore, the control group received no training. Additionally, all study participants provided informed consent forms and were assured about the confidentiality of their information. Posttest sessions were administered for both study groups. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the collected data.

Emotional expression training sessions significantly reduced anxiety, and improved the quality of life and perceived academic control in the explored students (p<0.001).

The current study findings revealed that the type and intensity of onechr('39')s emotions about different educational events could be predicted concerning the level of perceived academic control. Therefore, emotional expression training improved different aspects of studentschr('39') perceived academic control; i.e., students who could intelligently cope with their emotions, are more self–confident, have high self–esteem, and make more effort to learn. They are more spontaneous, and control their emotions and stress to achieve their purpose. To improve the academic control and awareness of students, they need to be aware of their health and attitudes to different emotions faced in life, as well as how to express their emotions.