A Study of the Effect of Problem-Solving Skills Training on the Improvement of Psychological Wellbeing

Abstract

The aim of the present study has been to examine the effect of problem-solving skills training on the improvement of psychological wellbeing among the vulnerable women in city of Karaj. Research methodology has been applied in terms of purpose; and it has been a quasi-experimental study with pre-test/post-test control group design in terms of data collection, and random assignment of participants. In this study, statistical population included all the vulnerable women who went to one of the Counseling Centers in Karaj city; and a sample size of 30 persons was selected through random sampling. In order to collect data, Ryff's psychological wellbeing questionnaire was used. Cronbach's alpha was adopted to measure the reliability of the questionnaire which amounted to 0.89. Besides, content-related validity was adopted to measure the validity; for this purpose, the questionnaire was approved of by the related experts. Group intervention of problem-solving skills with cognitive-behavioral model was provided for the experimental group in 8 sessions each 2 hours. At the end of the 8th session, post-test was administered again for both experimental and control groups. Analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires was carried out through SPSS software in two descriptive (mean, standard deviation, variance, measures of central tendency, dispersion, etc.) and inferential (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, analysis covariance). Findings indicated that after group intervention, from among the components of psychological wellbeing, only the scale of self-acceptance and the total score of psychological wellbeing increased. Participation in group therapy and cognitive interventions resulted in the increase of self-acceptance and the improvement of psychological wellbeing among female sex workers.