The Effect of Self-Healing Training on Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Forgiveness in Betrayed Women

Marital infidelity is an interpersonal and traumatic event that can produce cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms in the victim. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of self-healing training on anxiety, self-esteem, and forgiveness in betrayed women in Isfahan in 2021.

The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design and a control group. The study population included all betrayed women who were members of the Naranon society (Anonymous sufferers’ family group) in district one of Isfahan. Using convenience sampling, 30 betrayed women were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group.  The experimental group underwent 14 sessions (one session per week, 60 minutes each) of self-healing training. The research instruments included Pollard et al’s Family Forgiveness Scale (FFS) (1998), Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (1996), and Zank Anxiety Scale (1970). The repeated measures variance analysis in SPSS software were further employed to analyze the data.

The results showed that self-healing training had a significant effect on reducing anxiety, improving self-esteem and forgiveness in betrayed women (p< 0.05). The changes remained stable until the follow-up stage.

It is recommended to pay more attention to Self-care education in families due to its role in improving the psychological health of betrayed women, as well as increasing self-esteem and forgiveness and reducing anxiety.