Comparison of the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy and metacognitive therapy on anxiety and biological indicators in pregnant women

Abstract Introduction and A long wait to give birth and constant concern for the health of the baby accompany the mother during all pregnancy periods. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy and metacognitive therapy on anxiety and biological indicators in pregnant women. The present study was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test-follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all pregnant women in the second 3 months of pregnancy who referred to the hospitals and pregnancy clinics of Tehran in 2020-2021. 45 people were selected in a purposeful way and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The tools of this research included Cattell's anxiety questionnaires (1957), special armband for sphygmomanometer and glucose test kit. For the first experimental group, German - Canadian - Iranian system metacognitive therapy and for the second experimental group cognitive behavioral therapy were held in 8 sessions of 90 minutes, but the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were mixed using analysis of variance and analyzed through spss-26 software. The results indicated that metacognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy increased psychological well-being and decreased blood pressure and blood sugar at the end of the interventions and the follow-up period (p<0.05). The method of metacognitive therapy has caused a further decrease in biological indicators and a further increase in anxiety (p<0.05). Due to the effect that metacognitive therapy has on correcting metacognitive beliefs affecting anxiety and increasing blood sugar and blood pressure in pregnant women, it can be effective alone or with complementary treatment in reducing biological indicators and reducing anxiety in pregnant women.