EFFECTIVENESS OF GROUP-BASED COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL TRAINING ON REDUCING PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS OF ORAL PRESENTATION ANXIETY AMONG STUDENTS OF PAYAME NOOR UNIVERSITY, DOL

Abstract

In today's era of scientific advancement and competition, anxiety related to oral presentations is steadily increasing. This form of anxiety disrupts individuals' concentration, occupies mental resources, and limits cognitive capacity by impairing information processing. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of group-based cognitive behavioral training in reducing the psychological and behavioral symptoms of oral presentation anxiety among students at Payame Noor University, the Dolatabad branch. A quasi- experimental research design was employed, utilizing a pretest-posttest format with a control group. The experimental group participated in ten 60- minute sessions of group-based cognitive behavioral training. The study population comprised all female students enrolled at the Dolatabad branch of Payame Noor University during the first half of 2016 (1395 in the Iranian calendar). From this population, 32 volunteers were selected through convenience sampling in multiple stages and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Data were collected using a researcher- developed oral presentation anxiety questionnaire. The instrument’s content validity was confirmed, and its overall reliability was established through internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.73. Subscale reliability was also confirmed, with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.88 for psychological anxiety and 0.89 for behavioral anxiety. The results of the data analysis indicated that cognitive behavioral strategies significantly reduced both psychological and behavioral symptoms of oral presentation anxiety in students (P < 0.01).