Studying the Effect of Life Review Therapy on Psychological Well-being and Anxiety of Teenage Girls in Divorced Families

Abstract

Life review therapy, as part of a comprehensive therapy plan, helps people resolve their past conflicts, reconstruct their life stories, and accept their current situations. The present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of life review therapy in improving the psychological well-being and decreasing anxiety of teenage girls from divorced families in Gonbad-e Kavous (Iran). This study used a semi-experimental method with a pre-test, post-test, and control group. To this end, 20 teenage girls from divorced families covered by the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in Gonbad-e Kavous were selected by purposive sampling. Then, 10 girls were assigned to each group, and they were asked to respond to the psychological well-being scale designed by Ryff (1995) and Ketel’s (1970) anxiety scale. The mean of psychological well-being subscales, including self-acceptance (P < 0.003), having positive relationships with others (P < 0.006), and autonomy (P < 0.01) as well as overt and covert anxiety subscales (P < 0.001) was significant in the two experimental and control groups in the post-test phase. In other words, the results of covariance analysis indicated that the therapy improved psychological well-being and its components and decreased anxiety and its components in the experiment group compared to the control group (P<0.05). Accordingly, it is suggested that all institutions supporting teenagers and their guardians use this cost-effective and practical method in the form of group interventions.

Keywords

• life review
• psychological well-being
• anxiety
• teenage girls
• divorced families