comparison of effectiveness of friends program, solution-focused brief therapy, and aerobic exercise on students’ psychological well-being

Background: psychoeducation and performing physical activity are believed to be the major duties of academic settings; these might have crucial roles in improving psychological condition of students. the present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of friends psychoeducation, solution-focused brief counseling, and aerobic exercise on students’ psychological well-being. friends is acronym of feeling, remember to relax, inner helpful thoughts, explore solutions, now reward yourself, do it every day, and smile and stay calm. method: the present study was quasi-experimental research with pre-test and post-test follow-up stages and control groups in terms of implementation. the statistical population of this research included all 13 to 15-year- old male students at the first grade of model state high school in kahrizak education district, tehran, iran during academic year of 2019- 2020. forty students were selected as our sample with non-convenience sampling method utilizing g*power software. the subjects were assigned randomly into four intervention groups. all the subjects administered ryff scale psychological wellbeing–short form (rspwb-sf) as the research instrument and consent form. results: statistical analysis of the obtained data via ancova showed a significant difference between the intervention groups in terms of personal growth subscale in the pre-test and follow-up stages (p=0/01); post hoc comparisons indicated that solution-focused brief therapy was more effective than other interventions. moreover, ancova indicated a significant difference between the intervention groups concerning self-acceptance subscale in the pre-test, post-test (p<0.001), and pretest-follow-up (p<0.001) stages; post hoc comparisons revealed that friends was more effective than aerobic intervention in both post-test and follow-up stages. conclusion: students could benefit from psychoeducation programs along with other regular tasks in academic settings in order to improve their psychological well-being.