Comparing the effectiveness of self-directed learning strategies training and mindfulness training on academic optimism, self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belonging to school, and hope for education in divorced students

Comparing the effectiveness of self-directed learning strategies training and mindfulness training on academic optimism, self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belonging to school, and hope for education in divorced students

The clinical trial has a control group with parallel groups, double-blind, purposefully selected, and with a sample size of 45 students, they are placed in three groups of 15 through simple randomization using Random Number Generator software.

This research will use a field experimental research method and an extensive pre-test and post-test design with a follow-up phase. The research will be conducted in a counseling center. All outcome evaluators and data analysts who interpret the data and all information will be confidential and participants will be given pseudonyms.

Inclusion Criteria Participants must be at least 9 and at most 12 years old. Parents must be divorced. Informed consent of the student and parents to participate in the research. Exclusion Criteria Having psychological disorders and taking psychiatric medications. Having physical problems that interfere with the intervention process.

Experimental group one: Self-directed learning strategies training based on the Pentridge educational model (2000; cited by Vahidinejad et al., 2020) is implemented in 15 60-minute sessions, once a week. Experimental group two: Mindfulness training based on the standard protocol of Bowen et al. (2011; cited by Akbarpour et al., 2014) is implemented in 8 120-minute sessions, once a week. Control group: Do not receive any intervention.

Academic optimism; self-efficacy beliefs; sense of belonging to school; hope for education.

In this study, to achieve completely random assignment and eliminate any researcher interference or bias, a simple randomization method will be used. First, a complete list of divorced female students in Gotvand city who meet the inclusion criteria will be prepared. Then, each of these students will be assigned an initial numerical identification code. These codes will be entered into the Random Number Generator software. The software will generate a unique random number for each student. After generating the numbers, the participants will be listed in ascending order based on the value of the random number. Then, sequentially, the first to fifteenth students on the list will be assigned to the first experimental group (training in self-regulated learning strategies), the sixteenth to thirtieth students to the second experimental group (mindfulness training), and the thirty-first to forty-fifth students to the control group. This process will be designed in such a way that the order of entry or the researcher's knowledge of the participants will not play any role in the allocation method, and it will not be possible to predict each individual's group before randomization is complete.

In order to control bias and improve internal validity of the study, this study was designed with a double-blind protocol; in this way, the outcome assessor and data analyst will be kept unaware of the allocation of students to the intervention and control groups. In this process, the outcome assessor will collect data at all stages of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up, without knowing the students' assigned group, in order to prevent bias in the measurement; also, all raw data will be provided to the statistical analyst with anonymous codes (such as group A, B, and C), and the true nature of the groups will not be revealed until the end of the data analysis process. All allocation steps will be performed by an independent person from the research team, and decoding of allocation codes will be done only after the final completion of the statistical analyses.