The effects of individual and group cognitive- behavioral interventions on mental health problems and psychological symptoms among female inmates

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on mental health problems and psychological symptoms among female inmates at Rajaii-Shahr Prison. By using a systematic random sampling method, 15 female prisoners were selected. The data was obtained through the following measures: a researcher made questionnaire for collecting demographic data, an interview based on DSM-IV-TR format conducted by a psychiatrist, the General Health Questionnaire- 28 (GHQ- 28) and Symptom Checklist- 90- Revised (SCL-90-R). The findings indicated that in all subscales of GHQ- 28 and SCL-90-R significant diffrences existed between pretest and posttest scores. In other words, the mean of all the subscales in the post-test phase showed an improvement in their psychological status. The findings also showed the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral interventions in decreasing the psychological symptoms of female inmates. Among the probable reasons for this effectiveness are: introducing individual and group skills, encouraging the participants to have a problem solving approach, so that they could solve their personal and interpersonal problems more effectively.
 

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