The Effects of Psychoeducation Program for Decreasing Social Appearance Anxiety on Social Appearance Anxiety Levels of High School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of psychoeducation program, prepared for decreasing social appearance anxiety of high school students, on social appearance anxiety level of adolescents. In this study, an experimental model with pretest-posttest measurement and control group was used. The independent variable of the study was the psychoeducation program was applied only on experimental group between pretest and posttest. On the other hand, the dependent variable was the social appearance anxiety levels of the adolescents. The population of the study consisted of 300 high school students, whereas the sample of the study consisted of 40 students including 20 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group, all of whom received the high scores from the social appearance scale. In the study The data concerning the dependent variable were obtained by using “Social Appearance Anxiety Scale”. A seven-session psychoeducation program for decreasing the social appearance anxiety of the students was prepared and carried out for the experimental application. The program to be applied on the experimental group was structured on the principles of Cognitive Behaviorist Approach and the basis of Social Skills Training. The hypotheses of the study were tested through the nonparametric statistical tests. While Mann Whitney U test was used for the unrelated measurements, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used for related samples. As a result of the results of the study, it was found that the applied Psychoeducation Program for Decreasing the Social Appearance Anxiety decreased the social appearance anxiety levels of the students included in the experimental group.