Mobil Uygulama Destekli Akılcı Düşünme Eğitim Programının Üniversite Ögrencilerinin Akılcı ve Akılcı Olmayan Düşüncelerine Etkisi
Günümüzde psikolojik danışma ve psikoterapi alanında akılcı duygusal davranış terapisi (ADDT) yaygın bir şekilde kullanılan etkili bir yaklaşım olarak dikkati çekmektedir. ADDT’deki odak hem bireysel hem de grupla sürdürülen psikolojik yardım ve psikoegitimlerde bireylerin düşünce biçimlerini değiştirerek sağlıklı duygu ve işlevsel davranışlara ulaşmalarına yardımcı olmaktır. Günümüzde, teknolojik gelişmelerin psikolojik danışma ve psikoterapi uygulamalarına entegrasyonu, ADDT’nin uygulama alanlarını genişletmiştir. Özellikle mobil uygulama tabanlı çalışmalar, psikolojik danışma ve psikoterapiye erişimi kolaylaştırmakta ve bireylerin yardım süreçlerine daha aktif katılımını sağlamaktadır. Mobil uygulama temelli yeni yaklaşımlar, bireylerin kendi kendine yardım araçlarına erişimini artırarak, terapi süreçlerini günlük yaşamlarına daha entegre bir şekilde uygulamalarına olanak tanıma potansiyeline sahiptir. ADDT temelli mobil uygulamaların etkililiği üzerine sınırlı sayıda araştırma bulunmaktadır. Üstelik artan alanyazına rağmen akılcı düşüncelere yönelik araştırmalara yeterince yer verilmediği görülmektedir. Bu araştırma, mobil uygulama destekli akılcı düşünme eğitim programının üniversite öğrencilerinin akılcı ve akılcı olmayan düşünceleri üzerindeki etkisini incelemektedir. Bu çalışmada deney ve kontrol gruplarından oluşan yarı deneysel tasarım kullanılmıştır. Bu tasarım, müdahalenin zaman içindeki etkilerini değerlendirmek için ön test, son test ve izleme ölçümlerinden oluşmaktadır. Araştırmaya 32 üniversite öğrencisi (16’sı deney, 16’sı kontrol grubunda) katılmıştır. Deney grubunda sekiz oturumdan oluşan müdahale programı yürütülürken, kontrol grubunda herhangi bir program uygulanmamıştır. Her iki gruptan da 14’er katılımcı tüm ölçümleri tamamlamıştır. Araştırma sonuçları, deney grubunun akılcı olmayan düşüncelerinin anlamlı düzeyde azaldığını ve akılcı düşüncelerinin anlamlı düzeyde arttığını göstermiştir. Üstelik, 4-haftalık izleme ölçümleri deney grubundaki değişimin devam ettiğini göstermiştir. Kontrol grubunda ise anlamlı düzeyde bir değişim saptanmamıştır. Araştırma sonuçları alanyazın çerçevesinde değerlendirilmiş ve sonuçlardan yola çıkılarak bir dizi öneri geliştirilmiştir.
The Effect of Mobile Application-Supported Rational Belief Education Program on Rational and Irrational Beliefs of University Students
Today, Rational Emotive-Behavior Therapy (REBT) continues to be a widely used and effective approach in psychological counseling and psychotherapy. The focus of REBT involves helping individuals reach healthy emotions and functional behaviors by changing their way of thinking through both individual and group psychological help and psychoeducation. Integrating technological advances into psychological counseling and psychotherapy practices has expanded the application areas of REBT. In particular, mobile application-based studies facilitate access to psychological counseling and psychotherapy and enable individuals to participate more actively in therapy processes. New mobile application-based approaches can increase individuals’ access to self-help tools and enable them to apply therapy processes more integrated into their daily lives. There are limited studies on the effectiveness of mobile applications based on REBT. Moreover, despite the increasing literature, research on rational beliefs has been neglected. This study examines the effect of a mobile application-supported rational belief education program (MARBEP) on university students’ and irrational beliefs. A quasi-experimental design was employed, incorporating both the intervention and control groups. This design featured pre-test, post-test, and follow-up measurements to assess the effects of the intervention over time. The study included a total of 32 university students, with sixteen participants allocated to the intervention group and another sixteen to the control group. The intervention group received an 8-session intervention program, whereas the control group received no intervention. Fourteen participants from each group completed all the measurements. The research findings demonstrated a significant decrease in irrational beliefs within the intervention group, alongside a significant increase in their rational beliefs. Furthermore, the 4-week follow-up measurements indicated that the observed changes were ongoing. In contrast, no significant changes were identified in the control group. The outcomes of this study were analyzed in conjunction with the literature, leading to the development of a series of recommendations informed by the findings.
Rational Emotive-Behavior Therapy (REBT), formulated by Albert Ellis in the latter half of the 20th century, is a psychotherapeutic method that draws inspiration from the principles of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus (DiGiuseppe et al., 2013). Epictetus famously asserted, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters” (DiGiuseppe et al., 2013, p. 4). REBT posits that psychological disturbance in individuals is primarily caused by irrational beliefs. These beliefs are categorized into four primary dimensions: demandingness, frustration intolerance, awfulizing, and global evaluation of worth, as outlined by DiGiuseppe et al. (2013). In REBT, irrational beliefs hinder individuals from viewing events realistically, leading them to perceive reality in a way that aligns with their desires (DiGiuseppe, 1996). This perspective can be obstructive in achieving life goals (Turner, 2016). In contrast, beliefs focus on preferences, tolerance, realistic evaluation of negativity, and acceptance (Dryden, 2013). Rational beliefs, unlike irrational ones, are flexible and empirically supportable. REBT advocates that rational and irrational beliefs can coexist and do not necessarily exclude each other (Ellis et al., 2010). REBT has been recognized as an effective method in reducing or eliminating psychological disturbance. Research has demonstrated its effectiveness in treating a range of disorders including anxiety, depression, anger, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and academic procrastination (Düşmez, 2013; Kabadayi & Yüksel, 2021; Matin et al., 2012; O’Toole et al., 2019; Turner et al., 2020).
The advancement of technology, particularly in Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT), has been the catalyst for the emergence of new application areas. Smartphones and mobile applications have become integral to psychotherapy, enabling individuals to receive psychological assistance through these mediums (Callan et al., 2021; Koffel et al., 2018). Applications developed for smartphones have shown positive effects in reducing psychological disturbances (Bush et al., 2017; O’Toole et al., 2019). Mobile applications can be used as a complement to face-to-face psychological services or as a standalone service (Boettcher et al., 2018). Typically, these applications function as self-help models aiming to reduce psychological distress (David & David, 2019). Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of mobile application-supported mental health services (Arshad et al., 2019). The widespread use of smartphones among young people today further underscores the importance of integrating mobile applications into mental health services (Crompton & Burke, 2018; Uğur & Turan, 2015). The growing interest of youth in smartphones and their use of technology for psychological support necessitates further research into mobile application-supported interventions. Consequently, this study aims to examine the effect of a MARBEP on university students’ rational and irrational beliefs.
Method
The study employed a 2x3 quasi-experimental design, incorporating pre-test, post-test, and follow-up measurements to assess the impact of the interventions over time. The study focuses on the dependent variable, which is defined as rational and irrational beliefs, and the independent variable, which is termed the MARBEP. The essence of the quasi-experimental design is the implementation of a specific intervention program to the intervention group and the evaluation of this intervention’s effects through measurements taken from both the intervention and control groups. This approach is used to understand the changes produced by the intervention in the dependent variable. In the study, the pre-test, post-test, and a 4-week follow-up test were conducted for both the intervention and control groups. These measurements are crucial in determining the potential impact of the mobile application-supported education program on irrational beliefs.
In this study, following an announcement, 107 voluntary participants were screened using the Rational Beliefs Form and the Irrational Beliefs Form, resulting in the selection of 32 participants for the intervention and control groups based on their scores. Participants were randomized to these groups, with the final count being 28 due to various dropouts (13 females and 1 male in the intervention group, 10 females and 4 males in the control group). The average age was determined as 21.64 (SD = 1.45, agerange = 19-24) for the intervention group and 21.86 (SD = 1.70, agerange = 20-26) for the control group.
The study used the Rational and Irrational Beliefs Scale (Kabadayi & Güven, 2024) to collect data. The Gazi University Ethics Committee initially provided ethical approval (Date 04.11.2021, Research Code No: 2021-999). Following the announcement of the study, applications were reviewed to form the intervention and control groups. During the study, the intervention group participated in an 8-week online MARBEP. Conversely, the control group received no intervention during the same period. Post-test measurements and a 4-week follow-up test were performed at the end of the program.
The MARBEP is an 8-session psychoeducational program based on REBT, with each session lasting 120 min. The main aim of the program is to enhance the rational belief skills of university students by promoting healthy emotions and functional behaviors. The content of the program was tailored to the objectives of the sessions and the desired outcomes. Accordingly, a mobile application encompassing videos, reading materials, exercises, audio recordings, and note-taking features was developed for the participants in the intervention group.
In the data analysis phase of the research, the first step involved verifying the integrity of the collected data. Following this, the Shapiro-Wilk test was employed to assess the data’s conformity to a normal distribution. After confirming that the data were normally distributed, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures was performed to examine the differences between the groups. Variance equality was assessed using the Levene test, and the homogeneity of variances across measurement times was evaluated through the sphericity test. Where sphericity was not met, corrections were made to the degrees of freedom and analyses were performed using JASP.
Results
In this study, the initial analysis indicated that the scores for rational and irrational beliefs in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up measurements for both the intervention and control groups were normally distributed (p > .05).
To assess the variations in scores for irrational beliefs across the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test phases within both the intervention and control groups, ANOVA for repeated measures was used. A significant difference was identified in the scores for irrational beliefs across the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test in both groups (𝐹(2-26) = 36.902, p < .05). Specifically, the post-test and follow-up scores for irrational beliefs in the intervention group were significantly lower than the pre-test scores. Additionally, the η 2 value indicated a high effect size.
For examining the changes in scores for rational beliefs across the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test in both groups, one-way ANOVA for repeated measures was again used. There was a significant difference in the scores for rational beliefs across these measurements for both groups (𝐹(1.632-26) = 17.997, p < .05). This means that the post-test and follow-up scores for rational beliefs in the intervention group were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. Moreover, the η 2 value indicated a high effect size.
Discussion
This research explores the impact of a MARBEP on university students’ rational and irrational beliefs. The results of the present study showed that there was a significant increase in the rational belief scores of the experimental group participants and no significant change in the rational belief scores of the control group participants. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in the irrational belief scores of the experimental group participants and no significant change in the irrational belief scores of the control group participants.
The literature presents studies on the effectiveness of REBT-based interventions (Artıran & DiGiuseppe, 2022; Kabadayi & Yüksel, 2021; Kara et al., 2023; Vertopoulos & Turner, 2017; Yıkılmaz, 2009) and CBT interventions incorporating mobile applications (Hur et al., 2018; Tang & Kreindler, 2017). However, research on mobile applications based on REBT is limited, such as the PsyPills application, which focuses focusing on transforming irrational beliefs into rational ones (David, 2019; David & David, 2019). The efficacy of "CBT MobileWork" combining REBT and CBT in treating depression (Callan et al., 2021) and the effectiveness of a CBT-based application for cancer patients (Greer et al., 2019) have been demonstrated.
The results of this study indicate that the MARBEP is effective in decreasing irrational beliefs and increasing rational beliefs, highlighting the potential of REBT-based mobile applications. Applications like “Rational Parenting Coach” also exist in this field, yet they have limited experimental intervention dimensions (David, 2019). The education program follows similar methods as previous studies, such as videos and exercises, but further research is required to establish the effectiveness of mobile application-supported intervention programs (Kabadayi & Güven, 2022).
The findings obtained from implementing the MARBEP indicate significant changes in rational and irrational beliefs, demonstrating the effectiveness of REBT-based interventions. The research incorporates stages of psychological assistance processes based on REBT, including the ABC model, B-C path, disputing of irrational beliefs, and focusing on effective rational beliefs (DiGiuseppe et al., 2013; Dryden, 1983; Dryden, 2006; Hickey & Doyle, 2018), aligning with similar REBT studies in the literature (Kabadayi & Yüksel, 2021; Kartol, 2018; Rezaeisharif et al., 2021).
Limitations of the study include focusing solely on rational and irrational beliefs as dependent variables and examining only the intervention and control groups, indicated that future research could incorporate a broader range of variables and placebo groups. Additionally, more detailed studies on the usability of the mobile application are recommended. The data of the present study are limited to the responses obtained from self-report questionnaires, and the study group of this research consists only of university students.
In conclusion, this study is the first to examine the effectiveness of a MARBEP on university students’ rational and irrational beliefs, highlighting the role and potential of mobile applications in psychological assistance processes. It also points to the need for more research and policy support to enhance the development and effectiveness of mobile applications.