Investigation of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy based online psychoeducation program to reduce social anxiety

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a cognitive-behavioral therapy-based online psychoeducation program on social anxiety, automatic thoughts, and self- compassion levels of university students. A pretest-posttest follow-up control group experimental design was used in this study. The research group consisted of 18 undergraduate students attending Akdeniz University. During the study, the experimental group received a six-session cognitive-behavioral therapy-based online psychoeducation program aimed at reducing social anxiety, while the control group received no intervention program. Pretest, posttest, and follow-up tests were administered to the participants. Personal Information Form, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Automatic Thoughts Scale, and Self- Compassion Scale were used as data collection tools. The research data were analyzed using Mann Whitney U, Friedman ANOVA, ANCOVA, and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. As a result of the study, the experimental group that received the cognitive-behavioral therapy-based psychoeducation program showed a decrease in their social anxiety and automatic thoughts levels. Additionally, an increase in their self-compassion levels was observed after the intervention. The follow-up test results showed that the changes were sustained over time. There was no statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the control group. However, a significant difference was found in the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups in terms of their social anxiety, automatic thoughts, and self- compassion scales.