The COVID-19 Anxiety and Psychological Well-being Following Resilience- Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (R-CBT)

This study attempted to use resilience-based cognitive-behavioral intervention (R-CBT) through online learning to reduce COVID-19 anxiety and improve psychological well-being. Fourteen Payame Noor University Telephone Counseling Center students with Corona anxiety, who were selected by volunteer sampling, received nine sessions of R-CBT using a learning management system (LMS). The participants completed the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (Alipour et al.020) and Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being (Ryff, 1989) in pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Finally, the data were analyzed using repeated measures. The results demonstrated the significant effect of R-CBT on COVID-19 anxiety and psychological well-being (p<0.0001). LSD post-hoc test indicated a significant difference (p<0.05) among the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages regarding COVID-19 anxiety. Accordingly, the level of anxiety decreased in the post-test and follow-up stage. The results also revealed a significant difference among pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages in regarding psychological well-being (p<0.05) . Accordingly, the level of psychological well-being increased in the post-test and follow-up stage. However, no significant difference was observed between the post-test and follow-up stages, which highlighted the non-stability of the effect of the intervention over time. According to the results, it could be concluded that online sessions of R-CBT were effective likewise in-person sessions and could be used in pandemic conditions or long-distance therapy to improve psychological condition of anxious patients .