Examining the effect of interpersonal relationships psychotherapy on psychological resilience

In this study, the aim was to examine the effect of interpersonal relationship psychotherapy-based group psychological counseling on the psychological resilience levels of university students. The research was conducted during the 2023-2024 academic year in an online setting. The study was planned and implemented as Practice 1 and Practice 2. Practice 1 involved 8 participants in the experimental group (3 male, 5 female) and 8 participants in the control group (4 male, 4 female), totaling 16 individuals. Practice 2 included 8 participants in the experimental group (1 male, 7 female) and 8 participants in the control group (2 male, 6 female), totaling 16 individuals. The dependent variable of the experimentally designed study was Psychological Resilience scores, with the independent variable being interpersonal relationship psychotherapy-based group psychological counseling. Data on psychological resilience were collected using the 'Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)' (Smith et al., 2008). This research employed a pre-test-post-test control group design, one of the real experimental models. The experimental groups, formed based on BRS scores, received 'interpersonal relationship psychotherapy-based group psychological counseling' consisting of 8 sessions, while no intervention was made for the control groups. Before the group psychological counseling, both experimental and control groups underwent pre-tests using the BRS. After the completion of the intervention, post-tests were administered to both experimental and control groups, followed by follow-up tests three months later. Whether the applied group psychological counseling had a statistically significant effect was tested using a one-way analysis of variance for repeated measures. The analysis revealed a significant difference between follow-up and pre-test scores in both Practice 1 and Practice 2. The findings were discussed considering the relevant literature, and recommendations were provided for future researchers and practitioners. Keywords: Interpersonal psychotherapy, Psychological resilience, Group psychological counseling.