The Impact of Emotion Regulation Training on Reappraisal and Suppression Strategies in Military Nursing Students

Introduction: Military nursing students are routinely exposed to situations that experience negative emotions. Emotion Regulation training is one of the interventions that may affect emotion regulation strategies. Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Emotion Regulation training on reappraisal and suppression strategies in Military Nursing Students. Material and Methods: The present study is quasi-experimental using pre and post-exam designs administered to the control group. The study population consists of all nursing undergraduate students studying during the academic year 2017-2018 in one of the military-medical sciences universities. Based on inclusion criteria, 110 individuals were selected through classification by drawing a random sample without replacement; they were allocated randomly to the control and experimental group (55 individuals in each group). The samples of these groups were homogenous demographically. First, the control group included in study to prevent information pollution. The pre-test was performed by questionnaire of Emotion regulation (ERQ). Control participants were provided with a secondary questionnaire following four weeks after filling the primary questionnaire out. The experimental group participated in an 8- training session (60 min) at the end of the training, the post-test was performed. Data were analyzed by Chi-Square, Fisher’s exact test, paired t-test, and independent t-test using SPSS 16. Results: Results suggest that emotion regulation training results in significant statistical changes in reappraisal and suppression strategies (P<0.005), but there is no difference between changing emotional regulation strategies in two groups (P>0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: The results validate the positive effect of emotion regulation training on increasing adaptive strategies and decreasing maladaptive strategies.