Comparing the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Schema Therapy on Academic Performance and Mental Health of Students with Test Anxiety
Keywords:
Test Anxiety, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Schema Therapy, Academic Performance, Mental HealthAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Schema Therapy on academic performance and mental health in students with test anxiety.
Methods and Materials: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 45 secondary school students from Tehran diagnosed with test anxiety, randomly assigned to Emotion-Focused Therapy, Schema Therapy, and control groups (n=15 each). Interventions were delivered in eight 90-minute sessions. Data were collected at pretest, posttest, and five-month follow-up and analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc tests in SPSS-27.
Findings: Significant effects of time, group, and time×group interaction were found for both academic performance and mental health (p<0.001). Both intervention groups showed significant improvements compared to the control group, with Schema Therapy producing significantly greater and more stable effects than Emotion-Focused Therapy (p<0.01).
Conclusion: Both therapeutic approaches effectively reduce the negative consequences of test anxiety; however, Schema Therapy demonstrates superior and more durable benefits for improving students’ academic performance and mental health.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Abolghasem Yaghoobi, Fatemeh Asgari, Samaneh Meysam, Asma Eftekhari (Author); Mehdi Ebrahimkhani
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