Comparing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Activation and Metacognitive Therapy on Depression, Cognitive Emotion Regulation, and Assertiveness Strategies in Women Victims of Domestic Violence

Background: Domestic violence is a social and behavioral problem affecting almost half of females. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of behavioral activation and metacognitive therapy on depression, emotion regulation strategies, and assertiveness in women victims of domestic violence. Methods: The quasi-experimental design of the study was pretest-posttest with a control group. The statistical population included all female victims of domestic violence who referred to family counseling clinics under the supervision of Shiraz Welfare in 2019. This study was conducted on 45 people, who were selected using random sampling method and assigned to experimental and control groups. The measurement tools included the Beck Depression Inventory, Assertiveness Inventory, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Domestic Violence Against Women Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANOVA) and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to check the normality of data distribution and the Levene test was applied to test the homogeneity hypothesis of group variances. Results: The mean age of participants was 36.58 ± 11.31 in behavioral activation group and was 35.17 ± 7.54 in metacognitive therapy group, and their marriage duration was 6.23 ± 2.89. The results demonstrated that behavioral activation therapy improved components of self-blame, blame others, repetition and positive concentration, assertiveness and depression, and metacognitive therapy components of self-blame, acceptance, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, positive focus, assertiveness, and improved depression (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of behavioral activation and metacognitive therapy (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Behavioral and metacognitive activation therapies can be used to improve mental health and teach coping skills to women victims of domestic violence, educational and therapeutic planning