Effect of Group Cognitive-Behavioral Training on Reducing Cognitive Dissonance and Increasing Self-esteem in Middle-aged Women

The purpose of this study was to determine effect of group cognitive-behavioral training on reducing cognitive dissonance and increasing Self-esteem of middle-aged women. The present study was a quasi experimental with pre-test and post test analysis and control group. Research population (N=55) of current study is middle-aged women which were members of women Association of city Health Office in Area 2 Tehran. 30 middle-aged women with low self-esteem referred to health home in 2 Tehran municipality were selected and were randomly assigned to one experimental (n=15) and one control group (n=15). Subjects were chosen by objective sampling method. Experimental group received group cognitive-behavioral training for 1 months (8 sessions of 2 hours), while control group received no training at all. Data were collected by DARQ Harmon – Jones Questionnaire and Cooper Smith self-esteem questionnaire. Results showed a significant difference between reducing cognitive dissonance of those who were taught cognitive-behavioral training and those who were not. Also study demonstrated that group cognitive-behavioral training had positive effects on self-esteem improvement in experimental groups who received interventions in comparison to control group (P<0.001). Group