The Effectiveness of a Brain–Behavior Model-Based Behavioral Activation Therapy Package on Fear of Positive and Negative Evaluation and Subjective Well-Being in Adolescent Girls with Social Anxiety
Subject Areas : Educational
Fateme Homaei
1
,
shahnaz khaleghipour
2
*
,
hasan khoshakhlagh
3
1 - Ph.D. graduate, Department of Psychology, Nae.C., Islamic Azad University, Naein, Iran
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Nae.C., Islamic Azad University, Naein, Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Nain Branch, Islamic Azad University, Nain, Iran
Keywords: Behavioral activation, brain-behavior system, fear of negative and positive evaluation, social anxiety, mental well-being,
Abstract :
This research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Behavioral Activation Therapy based on the Brain-Behavior Approach on fear of positive and negative evaluation and mental well-being in adolescents with social anxiety. The research was applied in nature and used a semi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The study population included female second-grade middle school students in the entire city of Isfahan in the academic year 2022-2023 who scored above the cut-off point on the social anxiety test. Based on this, 30 of them were selected using the purposive sampling method and randomly assigned to 2 experimental and control groups. Data collection utilized questionnaires on adolescent social anxiety (La Greca, 1999), fear of positive evaluation (Weeks, Heimberg & Rodebaugh, 2008), fear of negative evaluation (Leary, 1983), and mental well-being questionnaire (Keyes & Magyar-Moe, 2003). The intended intervention was Behavioral Activation Therapy based on the Brain-Behavior Approach, consisting of 14 sessions, each lasting 70 minutes. The data obtained were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with SPSS25 software. The results indicated changes in fear of positive and negative evaluation and mental well-being in the experimental group compared to the control group, as well as the sustainability of results at the follow-up stage (p < 0.01). Therefore, it can be stated that the implementation of this intervention, which focuses on strengthening and activating brain functions, is an effective solution for fear of positive and negative evaluation and enhancing mental well-being in female adolescents with social anxiety.
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