Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Metacognitive Therapy on Psychological Well-Being, Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar in Pregnant Women

Pregnancy is one of the most sensitive periods ofhuman life. A long wait to give birth and constant concern forthe health of the baby accompany the mother during allpregnancy periods. The aim of this study was to compare theeffectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and metacognitive therapy on psychological well-being, BloodPressure and Blood Sugar in pregnant women.

The current study was a quasiexperimental study with a pre-test-post-test-follow-up planwith a control group. The statistical population of the presentstudy consisted of all pregnant women in the second 3 monthsof pregnancy who referred to the hospitals and pregnancyclinics of Tehran in 2020-2021. 45 people were selected in apurposeful way and randomly assigned to two experimentalgroups and one control group. The tools of this research wereRyff's psychological well-being questionnaires (1989) and aspecial armband for a sphygmomanometer and a glucose testkit. For the first experimental group, German, Canadian, andIranian system metacognitive therapy (Malihialzackerini et al.,2003) and for the second experimental group cognitivebehavioral therapy (Greenberg and Padesky, 1995) were heldin 8 sessions of 90 minutes, but the control group did notreceive any intervention. The data were analyzed using mixedanalysis of variance.

The results indicated that metacognitive therapyand cognitive behavioral therapy increased psychologicalwell-being and decreased blood pressure and blood sugar atthe end of the interventions and the follow-up period (p<0.05).The method of metacognitive therapy has caused a furtherdecrease in blood pressure and blood sugar components, and afurther increase in psychological well-being (p<0.05).

Due to the effect that metacognitive therapy hason correcting metacognitive beliefs, it can be effective aloneor with complementary therapy in reducing Blood Pressureand Blood Sugar and increasing psychological well-being inpregnant women.