The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on reducing test anxiety and increasing self-efficacy in high school female students

Introduction: The purpose of present study was the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on reducing test anxiety and increasing self-efficacy in high school female students.
Method: The design of the study was experimental, pre-test, and post-test with control group. Statistical population includes 60 high school female students of Siahkal city in 2014-2015 academic year. Statistical sample includes the subjects who obtain a least one score above the average in anxiety scale and one score below the average in self-efficacy scale and they were categorized randomly in two 15-person experimental and control groups. The pre-test was administered for both groups. The experimental group received eight sessions of intervention once a week for about 90 minutes. But no intervention was applied in control group. After this stage, post-test was conducted for both groups at the same time and in the same condition. Both groups were evaluated with Spielberger test anxiety scale and general self-efficacy scale of Scherer et al. the statistical method of MANCOVA was used for data analysis, in addition to descriptive statistics and all operations were performed by SPSS-20 software.
Results: The results showed  that cognitive-behavioral therapy training had no significant effect on reducing test anxiety among high school female students (f(1/26)= 0/03,p=0/867,µ2=0/0001). But there was a meaningful effect on increasing the self-efficacy of the students (f (1/26) =12/13, p= 0/002, µ2=0/32).
Discussion and Conclusion: Cognitive-behavioral group therapy has been effective in increasing self-efficacy in high school female students.