Behavioral Activation Therapy on Motivational Beliefs (Academic Motivation, Self-efficacy, Test Anxiety) of Female Students with Depression

Motivational beliefs are a set of personal and social criteria that are influenced by different factors and in different situations. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of behavioral activation therapy on motivational beliefs (internal motivation, self–efficacy, test anxiety) in female students with depression.

This is a semi–experimental pre–test post–test with control group. A statistical population of all female high school students with major depression who referred to psychiatric services clinics in Mashhad in the second six months of 2018 was selected by a sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental groups And evidence were replaced. The research tools consist of structured clinical interviews with Fares et al (1996), Beck Depression Inventory (1996), and Pentirich et al. (1993). Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22 and multivariate analysis of covariance analysis.

The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of the internal motivation of the experimental group before and after the intervention were 14.21±2.38, 16.21±2.39 and 16.21±2.39 respectively; the self–efficacy before and after the intervention was 38.54±2.32 43.76±2.81 and test anxiety before and after the intervention were 30.43±2.35, 27.67±2.17, respectively. Also, the effect size of the internal motivation score was 0.801 (p<0.001), self–efficacy was 0.332 (p<0.001) and test anxiety was 391 (p<0.001).

Behavioral activation therapy has been effective in increasing internal motivation and self–efficacy and decreasing test anxiety in students with depression.