The Effectiveness of Hope-Therapy on the Dimensions of Life Quality and Self-Esteem of Depressed Adolescent Girls

The research aimed to study the effectiveness of hope therapy on dimensions of quality of Life and self-esteem in depressed adolescent girls.

For this purpose, a quasi-experimental pretest, posttest with control group was used. The statistical population included all adolescent girls studying in the academic year 2016-2017 in Isfahan, from which 24 depressed girls (12 in the experimental group, 12 in the control group) were selected through cluster sampling and according to the selection criteria. The intervention method included 8 sessions of hope therapy that was implemented for experimental group. In order to assess variables, Beck Depression Inventory 2 (Beck, 1996), Quality of Life Questionnaire (World Health Organization, 1996) and Self-Esteem Questionnaire (Coopersmith, 1967) were used. The data analysis conducted by multivariate analysis of covariance with pretest, posttest, and control groups.

The findings showed a significant increase in the mean scores of dimensions of quality of life including physical health (F= 0.36, p<0.05), mental health (F= 0.30, p<0.05), social relations (F= 0.35, p<0.05), and perception of living environment (F= 0.32, p<0.05) in depressed girls. Also, the result showed a significant increase in the mean scores of academic self-esteem (F= 0.44, p<0.05), and self-esteem (F= 0.40., p<0.05) in these students.

Therefore, hope therapy is effective in increasing self-esteem and quality of life in depressed adolescent girls and can be used in schools and counseling centers to reduce depression by designing educational and cultural programs focusing on hope, preventing depression in adolescents, and improving their quality of life and self-esteem.