The Effectiveness of schema therapy on academic enthusiasm and body dysmorphic symptoms in students

The goal of this study was evaluation of the effectiveness of schema therapy on academic enthusiasm and body dysmorphic symptoms in students. The research design was quasi-experimental, with pre-test-post-test with a control group. For this purpose, 40 female students in the sixth grade of elementary school studying in Kashan in 2019-2020 were selected through convenience sampling and assigned randomly to two equal groups of 20 individuals. The experimental group then underwent schema therapy training for 8 sessions and the control group did not receive any intervention and remained on the waiting list. Participants completed the Frederick’s Questionnaire of Academic Enthusiasm and Y-BOCS-BD in three baseline stages, after a two-month test and follow-up. Data were analyzed using univariate one-way analysis of variance and repeated measures with SPSS21 software. Results of the analysis showed that the scores of the experimental group compared to the control group in academic enthusiasm and body dysmorphic symptoms were changed and this difference is maintained in the follow-up phase. Thus it can be concluded that schema therapy due to its high efficiency, especially when it is held in groups, cheapness, and acceptance by students is an effective strategy to increase academic enthusiasm and help people exposed to body dysmorphic symptoms.