Comparing the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Adolescent- Centered Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Fusion and Self-Concept Of Girls with High Risk Behaviors tendencies

Determining the Effectiveness of and Comparing Emotion-Focused Therapy and Adolescent-Centered Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Fusion and Self-Concept in Adolescent Girls Prone to Risky Behaviors

A randomized, single-blind, parallel-group, controlled clinical trial conducted on 60 participants.

Research setting: selected girls' secondary schools Collection of baseline data within the school environment. The students were unaware of the implementation procedure. Members of the two groups—the intervention group and the control group—came from three different schools and did not know one another.

Inclusion criteria : being female; enrollment in an upper secondary school during the academic year in which the study was conducted; engagement in one or more high-risk behaviors; no prior participation in similar workshops or educational classes; absence of psychiatric disorders or concurrent therapeutic interventions; provision of informed consent to participate; and achieving a score equal to or greater than the cutoff score of 95 on the Iranian Adolescent Risk-Taking Questionnaire—used as the primary criterion for identifying eligible participants. It should be noted that meeting this criterion indicates that the participant exhibits a significant level of propensity toward high-risk behaviors, as assessed by the screening instrument. Exclusion criteria: Inability to attend the 8 educational sessions or absence from more than two sessions; dissatisfaction with the sessions at any stage of the study; failure to cooperate with therapeutic assignments; and the use of psychiatric medications or receipt of concurrent therapeutic interventions.

Emotion-Focused Therapy Intervention Group Adolescent-Focused Mindfulness Training Intervention Group

Cognitive Fusion Self-Concept

Step 1: To select girls' upper secondary schools, three schools are chosen using a non-random, purposive sampling method. Phase Two: Screening and identification of eligible students (those scoring at or above the cut-off score of 95 on the Iranian Adolescent Risk-Taking Questionnaire) in selected schools. A total of 60 eligible students will be selected from 3 designated schools (20 students from each school). Step 3: Following the traditional lottery method, each of the selected schools is assigned a number. The selection of 60 eligible students—to be placed into the experimental and control groups—is carried out by randomly drawing a number from a container.

This task was carried out by the researcher and the instructor of the two interventions. The participants in this study, who were students, were unaware of the details. Each of the group intervention sessions was conducted in two separate schools at different times by a single therapist (trained in the research interventions), and the members of the two experimental groups did not know one another.Members of the control group were also selected from a separate school. To minimize the risk of cross-contamination between the interventions, the two treatment groups were organized separately, and the sessions for each intervention were conducted in independent groups. Throughout the implementation of the interventions, members of each group remained unaware of the content of the other group’s sessions; furthermore, they were instructed not to share the session content or the activities performed with students outside their own group. Additionally, the sessions for the two interventions were held at different times, and participants were assigned to their respective groups prior to the commencement of the intervention. Given that the participants were drawn from the same school community, the potential for interaction and the exchange of information among students—a possible source of contamination—was taken into account; this risk was mitigated as much as possible by conducting the sessions separately and emphasizing the confidentiality of the session content.

Participants' data and scores will be recorded in an Excel file and subjected to statistical analysis; the results of this analysis will be published in the doctoral dissertation and as a research article.

After the work is finished

Principal Investigator, Supervisors, and Advisors, Supervisors, and Advisors

Publishing research results

Principal Investigator Mahdiyeh Pakdaman Contact Number 00989113363596

Contacting the principal researcher to receive guidance on obtaining data and data analysis results, within a maximum period of 2 months.