Evaluation of Positive Psychotherapy Effects on Student's Depression, Well-being, and Academic Achievement in Mathematics and Experimental Sciences

The emphasize of Positive Psychology on health and well-being of people has led to new intervention models by positive psychology in shools to promote well-being in education system, which will result in achievement in learning and well-being. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to utilize Positive Psychotherapy intervention for achieving these targets. The present study was a semi-experimental design with pretest-posttest and a control group. Two schools were randomly selected for having one class in each school as experimental group (n=43) and control group (n=41). Participants in both groups completed the questionnaire of well-being. Then, the intervention was performed in the experimental group. Multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Data were also followed for a month. The results showed that Positive Psychotherapy had a significant effect on the reduction of depression in experimental group (Partial Eta Square=0.35). It had a significant effect on increasing the level of well-being (meaning (Partial Eta Square=0.28), relationships (Partial Eta Square=0.27) and accomplishment (Partial Eta Square =0.17) compared to the control group. The intervention also increased the level of academic achievement in Mathematic (Partial Eta Square=0.05) and Sciences (Partial Eta Square=0.12) in the experimental group. Positive Psychotherapy due to special attention to the positive aspects of individuals, may also flourish students.