The Comparison of Effectiveness of Solution – Focused Approach and Motivational Interviewing on Situational Emotions and Interpersonal Conflicts in probationary students

The purpose of this study was to compare the effective solution-focused approach and motivational interviewing on situational emotions and interpersonal conflicts in probationary students. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with the control group. The statistical population consisted of undergraduate probationary students at the University of Zanjan during the academic year of 2018-2019 whom 60 were selected through a stratified sampling method and assigned randomly into two experimental and control groups (20 members in each group). The first experimental group received nine sessions of the solution-focused approach and the second experimental group received five sessions of motivational interviewing (one session of 120 minutes per week), but the control group received no intervention. The short form of situational emotions scale (Randler et al., 2011) and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (Barkham, Hardy & Startup, 1996) were used for data collection. The results of data analyzed using MANCOVA showed that the solution-focused approach was more effective than motivational interviewing on interpersonal conflicts and motivational interviewing was more effective than the solution-focused approach on situational emotions (P<0.05).  Based on the results of the present study, the solution-oriented approach and motivational interview can be used to improve the academic performance of probationary students.