Meta-analysis of Psychological Interventions’ Effectiveness (psycho-educational) on Students' Self-Efficacy Using Howitt and Cramer methods in Iran (2005)

Academic self-efficacy can be defined as a reflection of the student's personal beliefs in their abilities to achieve educational tasks at the expected levels (Malkok and Kesen Matlo 2018). So the ways to enhance self-efficacy have been highlighted. Hence, many studies have been done in this regard: dialectical behavior therapy (Moghadam et al. 2019), group cognitive therapy training (Besharat 2016, Bianfar 2018), acceptance and commitment therapy (Doroudian 2019) and emotion regulation training (Fooladchang and Hasannia 2014, Penrosa, Pari and Ball 2007) including Psychological interventions were aimed at increasing academic self-efficacy. From a methodological view, despite the fact so far, several researches have examined the effectiveness of this therapeutic approach on clients individually and in groups; But so far in Iran, coherent and comprehensive research has not evaluated these researches with the meta-analysis method; On the other hand, considering that numerous researches related to the effectiveness of psychological interventions on self-efficacy in Iran, it gave the impression that conducting a meta-analysis research will help to clarify the real amount of the effectiveness of the interventions and will determine the impact of these interventions. Present study attempted to investigate the effectiveness of psychological interventions on students' self-efficacy using a meta-analysis research.  

In this research, based on the proposed research goal, method was meta-analysis. The statistical population was all the researches published by Iranian authors in scientific journals inside and outside of Iran, conducted between years 2017-2021 in the field of psychological interventions on students' self-efficacy in Iran, which had the necessary conditions in terms of methodology.The search sources were scientific journals in the field of psychology, educational sciences, medicine, academic Jihad information resource bank and Iranian document centers by referring to the sites sid.ir, google scholar, magiran, the dedicated page of scientific journals. The criteria for the meta-analysis included:1) The topic should be "psychological interventions and self-efficacy in students". 2) The research was conducted in a group that meant individual studies, reviews and correlations were not accepted. 3) The research should be quasi-experimental. 4) Valid tools and accurate scales should have sufficient validity and reliability.In addition, the research tool was the content analysis checklist. According to the list of researches and considering the mentioned criteria, 34 studies with 34 effect degrees/rates were approved. Then calculations were done manually; the steps of implementing this meta-analysis were based on the meta-analysis steps of Howitt and Cramer (2005) (Howitt and Cramer 2005; Pasha Sharifi et al. 2018) as follows:1) Definition of research variables 2) Searching databases 3) Research studies 4) Calculation of influence degree/rate for each study 5) Combination of influen degree/rate of studies 6) Significance of combined studies.

From 62 studies, 34 studies including 1645 participants met the eligibility criteria. Based on the reviewed findings, the studies in terms of the number of psychological interventions on the type of self-efficacy were general self-efficacy with a frequency of 19 and 55.88%, academic self-efficacy with a frequency of 8 and 23.52%, and other dimensions of self-efficacy (clinical, decision-making and social) with a frequency of 7 and a percentage of 20.58.Table 3) Combining the results of the volume of studies on the effectiveness of psychological interventions (psycho-educational) on self-efficacy in Iran (students' case study)Number of influence degreeGeneral Values ZrThe degree/rate of the overall influence of the article3416/580/48Based on the results obtained from table No.3, the average influence degree/rate obtained from the studies was calculated 0.48.Table No. (4) Indicates the significance of the combined studies.Table 4) Significance of combined effectiveness studiesNumber of StudiesZ Overall ValuesZ Average valuesCombined significance3497/4116/700/00001Finding of table No.4 showed the combined significance level of the conducted studies was (P>0.00001), which can be inferred the significance of the total influence degree/rate of psychological interventions (psychological-educational) on self-efficacy in Iran (study case of students). The interpretation of the results based on the influence degree/rate of Cohen's d was obtained in the present study 0.48, that according to the results of the Cohen's d interpretation table, the influence degree/ rate was medium and significant (P<0.00001).The current study estimated the influence degree/ rate at 0.48, which in Cohen's interpretive evaluation, indicated the average effect size and was also significant. The results of the present meta-analysis were in line with the findings of Aminodin et al. (2021).A study by Aminodin et al. (2021), examining the evidence and determining the effectiveness of self-management interventions based on smart phones on self-efficacy, self-care activities and quality of life in patients with diabetes, type II, was conducted as a meta-analysis. A systematic search was conducted in five databases (CINHAL, COCHRAN, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus).Learners with high self-efficacy can improve academically, control their impulses, seem to solve problems, and monitor their progress (Kumaraju, Nadler 2013). Self-efficacy increases when learners actively manage their internal and external environment, have a specific plan for study and review, estimate the level of effort required, focus on progress, and identify support resources (Pintrich, 2004); quoted by Akhwan Tafti and Kodkhodaei (2016),  teaching cognitive and metacognitive strategies were also effective in increasing self-efficacy. By using these strategies, people can use appropriate solutions and strategies for learning and studying, moreover, they can complete learning assignments and increase their motivation to learn. Therefore, by using these strategies, learners trust their abilities more, which increase their self-efficacy (Hoseini et al. 2014).

Finally, paying attention to cultural contexts in different societies can be effective in the effectiveness of different treatment approaches. In any case, it is obvious to use various treatment approaches in treating problems, but what is better to pay attention to is the success rate of applying the desired treatment model in solving the problem.It was suggested that therapists may use proven psychological methods in order to improve self-efficacy. On the other hand, the need to conduct additional studies and combine the findings of these studies was perceived, as this study was proposed to meet this need. However, more research was required on the effectiveness and persistence of the psychological treatments’ effects along an emphasis on biological changes, and researchers should address these issues in a scientific and focused manner. Similarly, it was suggested more meta-analyses and review studies regarding whether there may a significant difference between psychological interventions (cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, behavioral therapy, etc.) or not.Finally, there was a great variety in the types of psychological interventions examined in the present meta-analysis; hence, it suggested that the general mechanisms of changes be done with a content analysis study or a review. One of the limitations of the present research was the lack of a consistent database, which prevents easy access to more different articles across the country.