Effectiveness of Problem Solving Training on Dysfunctional Attitudes and Irrational Beliefs of Third Grade-High School Students in Sanandaj

The current study was designed to determine the effectiveness of problem solving training on dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs of third grade-high school students. This research, in terms of purpose, is an applied inquiry and in terms of implementation is quasi-experimental with pre-post test that was executed among high school female students in Sanandaj in 2015. The sampling method was based on random multi-phase clustering. The sample included in two the experimental and control groups randomly selected, each containing 15 people. After selecting the participants and assigning them to the experimental and control groups, the researcher did not provide the control group with any training but the experimental group received 10 one-hour problem solving training sessions based on Hepner and Peterson problem solving skills. In order to collect the data, the irrational beliefs Questionnaire of Jones, and Wisemanʼs Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale have been used. At the end of the experiment, the post test was performed in the experimental and control groups. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics such as the mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics such as ANCOVA and MANCOVA were used. The results indicated that problem solving skills training affect the dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs, such that the attitudes and irrational beliefs decreased as the problem solving skills improved. Also, the covariance analysis results indicated that by eliminating the effectss of the scores of the subgroups of irrational beliefs in the pre-test as a covariate variable, the main effect of training on the scores of irrational beliefs in all dimensions in the post-test is significant