The impact of optimistic mindfulness training on social skills and affective and cognitive empathy of gifted students with non-clinical depression

Abstract

Background and Aim: gifted girl students with depression suffer from issues such as emotional empathy and poor social skills. This study aimed at investigating the efficiency of optimistic mindfulness training on social skills and affective and cognitive empathy of gifted girl students with non-clinical depression.  Methods: The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design and a control group. In conducting this research, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 30 students were selected from gifted high school girl students in Shahrood in 2019. And they were randomly assigned to the experimental group (15 people) and control group (15 people). Gersham and Eliot's Social Skills Questionnaire (1999) and the affective and cognitive empathy scale of Rayner et al. 2010 were used in the pretest and posttest stages to measure the variables of the research. The positive mindfulness group was treated for twelve sessions, and the control group received no treatment. The data were analyzed using the one-way analysis of covariance and multivariate analysis of covariance.  Results: The findings indicated that there is a significant difference between the optimistic mindfulness treatment with the control group in the proper social skills, non-social behaviors, aggression, and impulsive behaviors, seeking supremacy, high self-confidence and relationship with peers, and affective and cognitive empathy in posttest after controlling the pretest (P=0.05). Conclusion: The results indicate that the treatment of optimistic mindfulness is influential in improving social skills and affective and cognitive empathy of girl students with depression