Effectiveness of Assertiveness Training on Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Dysfunctional Attitudes of Female Students

Assertive behaviors create close relationships with others and expression of a wide range of needs and thoughts, positive and negative, without feeling guilty, sad, anxiety and stress. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of assertiveness training on decreasing depression, anxiety, stress and dysfunctional attitudes of female students.

The study design was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and control group. The statistical population consisted of all female students of Shahriyar city during the semester of 2015-2016, 34 of them were selected by cluster random sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups of experimental and control. Both groups responded to the depression, anxiety, stress scale- short form by Lovibond & Lovibond (1995) and dysfunctional attitudes scale by Weissman & Beck 1978 for pre-test. The students of the experimental group attended six sessions of 1.5 hours per week in assertiveness training sessions. Both groups replied to the above tools for post-test and one month afterwards in follow up phase. Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance.

The results showed that assertiveness training skills in the post-test and follow-up stages reduced depression (F=8.381, P<0.001), anxiety (F=5.169, P<0.001), Stress (F=31.095, P<0.001), and dysfunctional attitudes (F=8.546, P<0.001) in the students of the experimental group.

It is suggested that therapists use this educational method to reduce psychological disorders and dysfunctional attitudes of adolescents and improve their mental health.