The Effectiveness of Training Metacognitive Strategies on Reducing Rumination and Worry

Rumination and worry are among the cognitive conflicts in many people. This research was conducted with the aim of the effectiveness of training metacognitive strategies on reducing rumination and worry. This research is a quasi-experimental type with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group. 32 students of Shahid Beheshti University were selected based on the cut of point in the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS) and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) by purposive sampling method and were assigned in two experimental (n = 16) and control (n = 16) groups. Metacognitive strategies were taught to the experimental group for 8 sessions, but the control group did not receive any training during this period. Data analysis was done using covariance analysis and SPSS-26 software. The findings showed that metacognitive therapy was able to significantly reduce rumination and worry in the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.001). Based on this finding, it can be concluded that training metacognitive strategies can be used effectively to reduce rumination and worry.