Human Resource Training Centre, Ministry of the Education,Tehran,Iran.

Abstract The present study aims to determine the effectiveness of Cognitive- Behavioral Stress Management on homesickness among university students.The study was conducted in a pre-test post-test experimental design. Two weeks after their arrival at the University dormitories, 225 freshman students completed the 33-item measure of homesickness, Homesickness Questionnaire (Archer et al, 1998). According to this questionnaire, 88 of the students were found to be suffering from homesickness (their scores were 1 SD beyond the average). From this population, 50 students were randomly selected and assigned to the intervention and control group. Subjects in the experimental group, undergone 10 sessions of cognitive-behavioral stress management Training. Subjects in the control group received no treatment.Data were analyzed using independent t test. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the pre-test result. However, after completing the stress management training, the experimental group showed significantly lower scores than the control group. Furthermore, two factors of homesickness (i.e. dissatisfaction with the university and strong attachment to home) which did not show any differences between the groups in the pre-test results, revealed significant reduction in the post-test results of the experimental group.The results of the present study show that cognitive-behavioral stress management training can be effective in alleviating homesickness and the problems that the students may encounter when they enter a new university environment