The effectiveness of integrated transdiagnostic treatment on high-risk behaviors and feelings of self-worth in adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of integrated transdiagnostic treatment on high-risk behaviors and self-esteem of adolescents.

In terms of purpose, the current research was of applied type and the method of conducting it was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with an experimental group and a control group and a three-month follow-up period. Therefore, the statistical population of the research included teenagers who had referred to a private counseling and psychotherapy center in the 11th district of Tehran in 2022. 30 people were selected by available sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (15 people) and a control group (15 people). Then, Ehrenreich-May et al.'s (2014) integrative meta-diagnostic treatment package was implemented on the test group. In order to collect data, the research tools included the Iranian Adolescent Risk Taking Scale (IARS) and the self-esteem questionnaire of Crocker et al. (2003).

The F value and significance level were calculated in the analysis of variance with repeated measurements in the variable of high-risk behaviors (F = 8.55 and P = 0.001) and self-worth (F = 8.98 and P = 0.001). It can be concluded that the intervention used in this research, i.e. integrative meta-diagnostic treatment as an independent variable, has significantly caused changes in the dependent variables (high-risk behaviors and sense of self-worth).

Based on the available findings, it can be concluded that integrative meta-diagnostic treatment can be useful to reduce high-risk behaviors and increase the sense of self-worth of adolescents.