Comparison of the Effectiveness of Confrontational Cat Treatment Program and Self-Encouragement Training on Students' Social Anxiety and Exam Anxiety

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the confrontational cat therapy program and self-encouragement training on students' social anxiety and exam anxiety. This semi-experimental research employed a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and included a follow-up period. The statistical population consisted of 6th-grade female students in the academic year 2019-2020 in Zanjan city. A total of 45 qualified volunteers were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to three groups of 15 individuals. All three groups completed social anxiety questionnaires (SAQ) by Connor & et al (2000) and exam anxiety (EAQ) by Abolghasemi & et al (1996). One of the experimental groups underwent the confrontational cat treatment program for 16 sessions (60 minutes each session), while the other experimental group underwent the self-encouragement treatment program for 10 sessions (90 minutes each session). Data analysis was conducted using the method of analysis of variance with repeated measurements and Benferoni's post hoc test. Results indicated that both the confrontational cat and self-encouragement interventions, compared to the control group, significantly reduced students' social anxiety and exam anxiety (P<0.001), and this reduction persisted until the follow-up stage. Additionally, the results revealed that the self-encouragement intervention had a greater effect in reducing students' social anxiety and exam anxiety compared to the cat intervention (P<0.05). In conclusion, the self-encouragement program was found to be more effective in reducing the social anxiety and test anxiety of students than the confrontational cat program.