Investigating the Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy-based Psychoeducation Program on University Students’ Automatic Thoughts, Perceived Stress, and Self-efficacy Levels

University life is a special period in which students take full responsibility for their lives, especially as individuals. This period includes many positive and negative situations. As a result, they need serious psychological support to cope with the potential or real problems they experience. This study aims to determine the effects of cognitive-behavioral-therapy-based psychoeducation programs on university students’ automatic thoughts, perceived stress, and self-efficacy levels.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a single group pre-test and post-test design. The research was carried out at a university in Turkey from October 1 to November 15, 2022. The sample consisted of 223 students who agreed to participate in the research. The psychoeducation program prepared within the scope of the study was conducted face-to-face for four 45-min sessions. In this study, we used an individual introduction form, automatic thought questionnaire, perceived stress scale, and general self-efficacy scale. Data analysis was done via SPSS software, version 23. To analyze the data, we used descriptive statistics along with the Pearson correlation test and the Spearman correlation test.

A total of 73.4% of the students who participated in the research were female and 49.5% stayed in the student dormitory. The economic situation of 53.2% was moderate and 41.4% to 67.1% of the students had a good relationship with their families, while 63.5% had a good relationship with their friends. After the psychoeducation, a significant decrease was observed in the mean scores of students’ automatic thoughts and perceived stress, while their self-perception scores increased significantly (P<0.05).

The cognitive-behavioral-therapy-based psychoeducation program positively affects university students in various aspects. After the psychoeducation, the perceived stress levels of the students decreased, their self-efficacy levels were positively affected, and their negative automatic thinking levels decreased.