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EFFECTIVENESS OF GROUP LOGOTHERAPY ON THE INCREASE OF HARDINESS IN STUDENTS OF
ALLAMEH TABATABA’I UNIVERSITY
Mona Rashvand1 , Maryam Safyari 2, Zahra Darvish Damavandi 3, Masoud Sharifzadeh4, Samaneh
Ghahremani5
1
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran. (mona.rashvand69@gmail.com)
2
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.
(maryamsafiyari000@gmail.com)
3
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran. (matin.darvish1988@yahoo.com)
4
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran. (masoud.sherif@yahoo.com)
5
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.
(samane.ghahremani@yahoo.com)
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of group logotherapy on the increase of hardiness in students of
Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran in 2014. The research was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and
control group. Study population consisted of all Allameh Tabataba’i University students in the academic year 139293. 30 subjects selected by convenience sampling method were randomly assigned in two groups of experimental (n
= 15) and control (n = 15). Ahvaz Hardiness Inventory (AHI) was conducted for all the 30 subjects. The
experimental group participated in 10 sessions of group logotherapy intervention, while the control group received
no treatment or intervention. For data analysis, covariance analysis method was used. The results showed that group
logotherapy intervention significantly increased psychological hardiness in experimental group as compared with
control group (P <0.001).
KEYWORDS: group therapy, logo therapy, mental health, Psychological hardiness,
INTRODUCTION
One of the important issues in the field of positive psychology is ‘psychological hardiness’, which in recent years has
attracted much attention among psychologists (Fang Zhang, 2011). Psychological hardiness was first introduced by
Kobasa in 1979. Kobasa has defined psychological hardiness as a personality characteristic which in the face of
stressful life events acts like a protective shield as a source of strength. Kobasa and Puccetti (1983) believe that the
psychological features of hardiness such as curiosity, tendency to have fun and meaningful experiences, assertiveness,
being energetic and believing that changes are natural in life, can be helpful in coping with stressful life events. (Low,
1996, quoted from Sufi, 2013). Various studies indicated a positive relationship between hardiness, physical and
psychological health. Hardiness as an inner source of strength reduces the negative effects of stress and prevents
probable physical and mental disorders (Kobasa, 1979; Florian, Mikulincer, & Yaubman, 1995; Brooks, 2003). Some
studies have also found a significant negative correlation between resilience and hardiness, and anxiety and depression
indicating that resilient individuals can overcome a wide range of adverse effects (Inzlicht, Aronson, Good and McKay,
2006). The meaningfulness of life, its role and importance are undeniable to have a good and happy life. Stegere and
colleagues (2009) suggested that the meaning of life is a significant variable in determining individuals’ mental health.
Their study results also showed that the existence of meaning in one’s life has a key role in developing physical and
mental well-being. Based on similar findings, a number of experts have claimed that the existence and feeling of some
meaning in one’s life is like a magic key that can open every lock and loop in life, and make individuals take positive
actions. Accordingly, meaningful life is mostly considered as an important effective factor on mental health (Nasiri &
Jokar, 2008). Logotherapy ushered in 1926 by Frankl’s Lecture at the International Congress on Individual Psychology
(Frankl, 1967; Mohammadpour, 2005). Frankl believes that frustrated, depressed and restless individuals and those who
feel lonely often complain about meaninglessness and absurdity of life; nothing in life they adhere to and nothing
would be of value to them (Rahimian, 2008).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Population, Sample and Sampling Method
This study was conducted using a pretest-posttest structure with control group. The population of this study consisted
of all students of Allameh Tabataba’i University in the academic year 1392-93. The subjects were 30 students of
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ISSN: 2319–4731 (p); 2319–5037 (e)
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Allameh Tabataba’i University who were selected by convenience sampling randomly assigned in experimental group
(n = 15) and control group (n = 15).
Participation Criteria
No psychiatric disorders or hospitalization; living in dormitories; age ranging from 19-26; no permanent job.
MEASURING INSTRUMENT
Ahvaz Hardiness Inventory (AHI)
The inventory was developed and validated by Kiumarsi, et al. (1998). AHI is a 27-item instrument containing 4
options for each item and its measurement is Likerty based. The inventory is in the range of 0 to 81. High score on this
questionnaire indicates a high psychological hardiness. Kiumarsi, et al. (1998) reported the reliability coefficients of the
questionnaire in retest and Cronbach's α method 0.84 and 0.76 respectively.
IMPLEMENTATION METHOD
Therapeutic intervention was implemented during 10 sessions of 90 minutes (one session per week) on the
experimental group, while the control group did not receive any intervention. By the termination of all sessions, posttest was conducted for both groups, and the follow-up test was administered one month after the execution of post-test
on both groups. The content of the intervention sessions are as follows:
Table 1. A synopsis of the content of the therapeutic sessions for the experimental groups
Session I
Session II
Session III
Session IV
Session V
Session VI
Session VII
Session VIII
Session IX
Session X
Introduction of the members to each other and the trainer; general discussion about
religion and spirituality and people’s attitudes towards them
Individuals and consciousness
Attitudes towards self and beliefs
Existential failure and its causes
Definition of existential vacuum - anxiety and mental illnesses and how to deal with them
Explaining how to deal with problems
Description of the ways of creating meaning through doing effective and valuable tasks
Creation of meaning through valuable experiences and through pain and suffering
Explanation of the the concepts of ‘freedom’, ‘choice’, and ‘free will’; explanation of the
moral concepts of learning, correction of attitudes and Diathesis technique
Review of previous sessions; summarization of concepts; answering questions; thinking
methods policy-making for prospective aims
Statistical Method
Considering that this study has applied a pretest-posttest design with control group, covariance analysis method was
used to analyze the data and data was analyzed by SPSS software (16 ed.).
RESULTS AND DISUSSION
Table 2. Mean and standard deviation of hardiness in control and experimental groups by pre-test and post-test
and follow-up
Hardiness
Group
Phase
SD
3.35
4.15
3.80
4.80
3.25
4.25
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Mean
53.21
55.52
61.64
54.56
60.8
50.5
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Pre-test
Experimental
Control
Post-test
Experimental
Control
Follow-up
Experimental
Control
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The effectiveness of group logotherapy on students’ hardiness was examined using covariance analysis. The normality
and equality of the dependent variable variance was confirmed through Kolomogrov-Smirnov and Levine tests (p
=0.12, F (1 and 28) =2.74). Regression homogeneity examination showed that the interaction between group and
pretest (F =0.08, p =0.83) was not significant. As a result, the data protects the homogeneity of regression slopes.
Regression chart analysis confirmed the linear relationship between the auxiliary random variable and the dependent
variable. As presented in Table 3, which is a summarization of variance analysis, with the elimination of pre-test scores
effect, the main effect of optimism training was significant on post-test scores of psychological hardiness (F(1 and 27)
=41.825, p =0.001, partial =0.64). Furthermore, the adjusted mean scores (Table 4) indicated that psychological
hardiness mean scores of experimental group which undergone a group logotherapy intervention were higher than
control group.
Table 3. Summary of covariance analysis to examine the effect of group logotherapy on the increase of
psychological hardiness in students
PES
Sig.
F
Ms
df
Ss
Sources of change
0.10
0.001
216.42
2185.51
1
2185.51
Pre-test
0.64
0.001
41.825
4265.12
1
4265.12
The main effect of
group
27
288.540
Residual error
Table 4. Adjusted mean scores of hardiness in experimental and control groups
SD
0.72
0.76
Adjusted mean scores of hardiness
53.54
62.83
N
15
15
Group
Control
Experimental
CONCLUSION
This research was conducted to examine the effectiveness of group logotherapy intervention on experimental group in
comparison with the control group. The research hypothesis was confirmed, i.e. group logotherapy intervention
increased hardiness in students. It was concluded that increasing students' meaning of life and its enhancing methods
would result in a promotion of mental health. So far, no study has specifically examined the effect of group logotherapy
on psychological hardiness. However, several studies have examined the logotherapy effectiveness standards on mental
health and its variables, most of which suggest that group logotherapy increase the standards of mental health. Given
that psychological hardiness is anyhow one of the standards of mental health and its increase brings about more
favorable mental states, the results of present research are also consistent with similar previous studies and are
confirmed (Kang, Kim, Mikyung, 2004; Suzan, 1999; Lent, 2004; Maki, 2005). In his research in line with the positive
effects of psychological hardiness on mental health, Fergus (2005) found that students with faith and belief in God has
a higher psychological health, and as a result a better mental health. McMillan and Brooks (2003) examined the impact
of psychological hardiness in some occupations, and the results showed that higher levels of psychological hardiness
guarantee resistance and tolerance for people working in difficult conditions and those with high psychological
hardiness better cope with difficult situations. Moreover, individuals with higher psychological hardiness declare more
resistance in stressful and difficult conditions and by using of task-oriented strategies better solve their problems
(Rajeshwari, Anantheram, 2005; Thong and Yap, 2000; Sanderlin, 2004). Generally, the results of similar studies on
psychological hardiness indicate that the higher the level of psychological hardiness is, the greater the individual and
society’s mental health would be. The results of this study also declared that group logo therapy intervention is
effective on the increase of psychological hardiness. Indeed with the increase of life meaning, psychological hardiness
can be enhanced, thus the mental health of individuals and the society would be increased.
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