The Effectiveness of Prayer Therapy in Reducing the Ineffective Beliefs of Adolescents with Academic Problems

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of prayer therapy on decreasing the ineffective beliefs of adolescents in Qeshm. To this end, 32 adolescents from Qeshm who had a poor educational achievement and ineffective beliefs were randomly selected and assigned to two experimental and control groups. Concepts and stages of prayer therapy was performed during 8 weekly meetings in Qeshm. Jones’s Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) was completed in the two stages of pre-test and post-test. The results of covariance analysis showed that compared to the control group, the mean score of irrational thoughts decreased significantly in the experimental group in the post-test (P <0.001). Also, the results of covariance analysis indicated that compared to the control group, the mean scores of the subscales of irrational beliefs, expectation of acceptance by others, self-blame, emotional irresponsibility, anxiety and worry, problem avoidance, dependence, failure in change, and perfectionism in the experimental group decreased significantly in the post-test.