Effectiveness and Comparison of Transdiagnostic Therapy and Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy on Positive Meta-Emotions in Pregnant Women
Keywords:
Transdiagnostic therapy, cognitive–behavioral therapy, positive meta-emotions, pregnant women.Abstract
This study examined and compared the effectiveness of transdiagnostic therapy and cognitive–behavioral therapy on positive meta-emotions in pregnant women. The research employed an experimental design with pretest, posttest, and three-month follow-up measurements, along with a control group. The statistical population consisted of pregnant women who visited District 14 of Tehran between February 2025 and April 2025. A sample of 45 participants (15 in each group: transdiagnostic therapy, cognitive–behavioral therapy, and control) was selected using convenience and random sampling. The interventions consisted of eight weekly 90-minute sessions of transdiagnostic therapy and cognitive–behavioral therapy. The research instrument was the Meta-Emotion Scale (Mitmansgruber, 2009). Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA (with Greenhouse–Geisser correction due to violation of Mauchly’s test of sphericity), Shapiro–Wilk test, Levene’s test, and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS-27. Statistical assumptions (normality and homogeneity of variances) were confirmed. Both interventions produced significant effects on increasing positive meta-emotions compared to the control group, and follow-up results indicated stability of therapeutic effects. The Bonferroni test confirmed posttest and follow-up differences between the experimental groups and the control group (p < .05), although no significant difference was observed between transdiagnostic therapy and cognitive–behavioral therapy (p < .05). The effect of time was significant for all three variables (p < .001). The findings indicated that both transdiagnostic therapy and cognitive–behavioral therapy are effective and durable in improving positive meta-emotions, with neither demonstrating superiority over the other. These findings highlight the applicability of both approaches in pregnancy-related interventions. It is recommended that future studies focus on long-term follow-up and larger sample sizes.
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