Development of a Stress Management Program for University Students : Intervention for Cognitive Appraisal

This study examined the effects of a stress management program for university students related to their knowledge of stress and cognitive appraisal, irrational belief (selfexpectation), cognitive reinterpretation, and stress responses. Participants (n=35) were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a waiting list control group. The program, including psychoeducation seminar (lecture and small group discussion), completion of a workbook, and follow-up interviews, was conducted for the intervention group for three weeks. Participants (n=8 and n=13 for the intervention and waiting list control groups, respectively) responded to three ways of questionnaires (pre, post, and follow-up). The results showed marginally significant favorable intervention effect for self-expectation on the post-test and significant effect for cognitive reinterpretation on the follow-up test. However, no intervention effects were found for knowledge of stress and cognitive appraisal and stress responses. These results suggest that this program would lead to the brief decrease in self-expectation and increase in cognitive reinterpretation