The effect of educational-therapeutic intervention with Adlerian approach on improving the dimensions of students’ psychological capital

 Students’ psychological capital has many positive consequences. Psychological capital is an important factor in reducing academic burnout and student procrastination as well as increasing academic motivation. This study aimed to examine the effect of an educational-therapeutic intervention with Adler’s approach on improving the dimensions of psychological capital (including hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy) among university students.

The current study was quasi-experimental followed by a pretest-posttest design and a control group with a one-month follow-up. To carry out the present study, among all university students-teachers of Farhangian University who obtained low scores on Luthans Psychological Capital Questionnaire (2007) at Resalat Campus for girls in Zahedan in the academic year 2018-2019, a purposeful sample consisting of 30 people was randomly selected and assigned to an experimental group and a control group (each including 15 people). The subjects in the experimental group took part in ten 90-minute sessions of the educational-therapeutic intervention conducted based on the Adler, Dreikurs, and Shoenaker’s approach; however, the control group did not receive any training. After completing all the training sessions, the subjects in both experimental and control groups were subjected to the posttest and the one-month follow-up. To analyze the data, a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and a univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were applied using SPSS ver. 23.

The results indicated that mean scores of the dimensions of psychological capital, including hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy, of the experimental group obtained in the posttest and the follow-up stages significantly increased compared to those of the control group, which showed an improvement in psychological capital in the experimental group which occurred due to the educational intervention.

Accordingly, it can be concluded that this educational-therapeutic intervention with the Adler, Dreikurs, and Shoenaker’s approach can be effective in improving university students' psychological capital.