Efficacy study of brief Morita therapy intervention with shy adolescents

• Main Author: Donahue, Patricia A.
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Bashfulness
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28035

The study examines the change effect of brief Morita counseling, based on Morita therapy, as an intervention with shy adolescent females (n = 12). The design used was a multiple-baseline across subjects with a time lag for treatment intervention. Subjects were selected from the mainstream student body at a Vancouver secondary school following screening with the Cheek and Buss (1981) Shyness Scale used in identifying shyness in individuals. Eligible students were randomly assigned to one of three groups each consisting of four subjects. The intervention consisted of 4 - 45 minute instructional-type group counseling sessions conducted over a 4-week period. Repeated measures were administered bi-weekly throughout the study period of 14 weeks. Clearly noticable changes in the positive direction occurred for the majority of subjects on almost all sub-scales. Subjects in the post-intervention phase reported greater coping effectiveness in their target situations, greater acceptance of their shy nature, less intensity of, and disturbance by anxious feelings and less difficulty in taking desired action despite anxiety. Behavioral counts taken pre- and post-intervention also support the positive change findings. Implications for further research are discussed. === Education, Faculty of === Graduate