Original Article Comparative effectiveness of group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and group cognitive-behavioral therapy on self-esteem of girl students

Introduction: The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of group mindfulness based cognitive therapy and group cognitive-behavioral therapy on self-esteem of girl students. Materials and Methods: The present study is a clinical trial. The statistical population includes all first grade female students of public high schools in 2012 in Sarakhs. Participants were chosen by random selection method and randomly allocated in three groups. Two groups received cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness based cognitive therapy for 2 months (8 sessions of 2 hours) while the control group received no training at all. Data were collected by Cooper Smith self-esteem questionnaire scale which was given to the subjects before and after of the training. The collected data was put to one way variance analysis and Danken test. Results: This study demonstrated that group mindfulness based cognitive therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy in comparison to the control group had positive effects on the self-esteem improvement (F=21.56, P<0.0001) and both methods had equal effect in self-esteem improvement. Conclusion: Both cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness based cognitive therapy methods were found effective in increasing self-esteem.