The Effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Emotion and Academic Self-Regulation in Adolescent Girls in Zahedan City with Clinical Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit heightened sensitivity to environmental hazards, and face difficulties in emotion regulation and academic self-regulation. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy on emotion regulation and academic self-regulation in adolescent girls with clinical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder following a traumatic event. The research method in this study was a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test measures, including a control group. A total of 20 female students from the high school in Zahedan in the year 2021 were purposefully selected and randomly assigned to two groups: the experimental group (10 participants) and the control group (10 participants). Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy was administered to the experimental group over 11 ninety-minute sessions. The data collection tools included the Pekran et al. (2002) Academic Emotion Questionnaire, the Kiano et al. (1987) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Questionnaire, and the Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1986) Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire. Data analysis involved the use of both univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The findings indicated a significant difference between the mean scores of academic emotions and academic self-regulation in the experimental and control groups at the post-test phase, with a 95% confidence level (P<0.05). The effect size of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy on positive academic emotions was 0.76, on negative academic emotions was 0.65, and on academic self-regulation was 0.78. To address the psychological problems of adolescents with clinical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy can be utilized.