The effect of schema therapy on emotion regulation, happiness, and procrastination in health center employees

Schema therapy has been used in the treatment of various disorders, including depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and couples' incompatibility and has suggested promising outcomes. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of schema therapy on emotion regulation, happiness, and procrastination among the staff of healthcare centers. This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and a control group design. The experimental groups received eleven 90-minute (once a week) schema therapy sessions, while the control group received no intervention. The statistical population consisted of the staff of comprehensive health centers in the east of Tehran City, Iran. In total, 40 samples were selected through systematic sampling method. The subjects were randomly divided into the test and control groups (20 samples per group). Considering the experimental nature of the study and eliminating the effect of pretest, the study groups were compared using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). In addition, Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were applied for testing the primary and secondary hypotheses, respectively. The obtained data were analyzed applying statistics like mean and standard deviation, as well as Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANCOVA) in SPSS. There were significant differences between the two experimental and control groups in terms of emotion regulation (P<0.000) and happiness (P<0.003). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in procrastination (P<0.689). According to the obtained data, conducting schema therapy has improved emotion regulation and happiness in the experimental group compared to the controls. However, the intervention only slightly improved procrastination in the experimental group members and such increase was not statically significant.