effect of group cognitive-behavioral techniques training on social anxiety in nursing students

Introduction: anxiety disorders are induced by cognitive and behavioral inefficiencies. objective: the present study aimed to investigate the effect of group cognitive-behavioral training techniques on social anxiety in nursing students. materials and methods: this was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest follow-up (one month) and a control group design. the statistical population comprised all nursing students of babol city, iran. fifty-four individuals diagnosed with social anxiety were selected using a simple random sampling method. the study groups were tested in three stages; before and after the intervention and follow-up, using the liebowitz social anxiety questionnaire. the experimental group was subjected to 12 sessions of 60-minute under the group intervention of cognitive-behavioral therapy based on social anxiety. however, the control group received no training. results: the obtained results suggested that cognitive-behavioral techniques training was effective on social anxiety. the mean social anxiety scores of the experimental and control groups were significantly different (p=0.004). conclusion: group training of cognitive-behavioral techniques significantly affected the social anxiety of studied students. moreover, this study suggests the use of cognitive-behavioral group therapy to reduce the social anxiety of nursing students.