The Effect of a Counseling Program Based on the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Approach of Challenging Thoughts on Enhancing Mental Motivation among Female Secondary School Students

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the effect of a Counseling Program Based on the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy  (CBT) counseling program on enhancing mental motivation among female secondary school students in schools affiliated with the General Directorate of Education in Diyala, morning study, for the academic year (2024–2025).

The researcher selected a sample of (240) female students to whom the Mental Motivation Scale was administered. After establishing the psychometric properties of the scale using appropriate statistical methods and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), a program sample of (20) female students was selected from fifth-grade/ scientific branch students in Al-Faraqd and Al-Amal schools.

The sample was divided into two groups, control and experimental, selected purposively from students who obtained scores lower than the hypothetical mean of (62). Students from Al-Faraqd School were assigned as the experimental group, while students from Al-Amal School represented the control group.

After implementing the program, the researcher found out the following results:

1. There were no statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the control group in the pre-test and post-test on the Mental Motivation Scale.
2. There were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group in the pre-test and post-test on the Mental Motivation Scale after applying the counseling program.
3. There were statistically significant differences at the level of (0.05) between the scores of the control and experimental groups in the post-test, in favor of the experimental group.

The study reached several conclusions, including  and recommendations and suggestions.