Background: Individuals with Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) experience a range of significant disturbances in emotional, cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal functioning. Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), as a contemporary evidence-based therapeutic approach, has increasingly gained attention for improving psychological outcomes associated with this disorder. Although previous studies have examined the effectiveness of CFT on certain grief-related variables, a significant research gap remains regarding its impact on emotional self-awareness, inner self-talk, and self-worth among women with Prolonged Grief Disorder.
Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy on emotional self-awareness, inner self-talk, and self-worth in women diagnosed with Prolonged Grief Disorder.
Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest control group structure. The statistical population consisted of all female teachers diagnosed with Prolonged Grief Disorder employed by the Department of Education in Qaemshahr, Iran. Using purposive sampling, 30 participants were selected and randomly assigned into two groups: an experimental group (n = 15) and a control group (n = 15). Data collection instruments included the Emotional Self-Awareness Questionnaire developed by Grant et al. (2002), the Internal Self-Talk Questionnaire by Brinthaupt et al. (2008), the Self-Worth Scale by Crocker et al. (2003), the Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale (PG-13-R) developed by Prigerson et al. (2021), and the Structured Clinical Interview for Prolonged Grief Disorder (SCIP) developed by Prigerson et al. (2022). The intervention protocol consisted of Compassion-Focused Therapy based on Gilbert’s (2010) treatment model, delivered in eight 90-minute sessions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics, including multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), through SPSS version 26.
Results: The findings indicated significant differences between the experimental and control groups in emotional self-awareness (F = 49.55, p ≤ .001), positive inner self-talk (F = 241.048, p ≤ .001), negative inner self-talk (F = 62.610, p ≤ .001), and self-worth (F = 91.484, p ≤ .001). These results demonstrate that Compassion-Focused Therapy had a statistically significant effect on emotional self-awareness, inner self-talk, and self-worth among women with Prolonged Grief Disorder. Furthermore, based on the mean score differences, the intervention showed the greatest effect size on positive inner self-talk.
Conclusion: Compassion-Focused Therapy significantly improved emotional self-awareness, inner self-talk, and self-worth in women with Prolonged Grief Disorder. Therefore, this therapeutic approach may serve as an effective and clinically valuable intervention for individuals suffering from Prolonged Grief Disorder.
Type of Study:
Research(Original) |
Subject:
روانشناسی Received: 2025/11/28 | Accepted: 2026/06/29 | Published: 2026/04/30