POST-DIVORCE ADJUSTMENT OF WOMEN: EFFECTIVENESS OF A PSYCHO-EDUCATION PROGRAM BASED ON COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THEORY

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the psycho-education program based on the Cognitive Behavioral Teory (CBT) on the emotional/social adjustment levels of newly divorced women. The research was carried out with a true experimental design with a control group in which pre-test-post-test and follow-up measurements were made. The research started with 15 newly divorced women in both groups. However, after the group was completed, 12 women remained in the experimental group and 11 women in the control group.Data collection tools are Fisher Divorce/Separation Adjustment Scale-Short Form and Personal Information Questionnaire. The results of the study reveal that the psychoeducation program based on CBT is effective in increasing the post-divorce adjustment of women. In addition, the psycho-education program was found to be effective in increasing women's self-worth and reducing grief reactions, disentanglement from relationship, and anger levels. Such a difference was not observed in the control group. At the same time, the effectiveness of the psycho-educational program continued in the follow-up measurements five weeks later.