دانشگاه اصفهان پژوهش های علوم شناختی و رفتاری 2251-7642 15 1 2025 08 23 The Effect of Cognitive Hypnotherapy on Mental Toughness and Cognitive Empowerment Among the Employees of Kimia Petrochemical Company تأثیر هیپنوتراپی شناختی بر استحکام روانی و توانمندسازی شناختی در کارمندان پتروشیمی کیمیا 167 188 30075 10.22108/cbs.2025.146250.2054 FA حسین زارع استاد روانشناسی، دانشگاه پیام نور، تهران، ایران. سامان بهروان کارشناس ارشد روانشناسی شخصیت، دانشگاه پیام نور، واحد بین الملل، کیش، ایران. Journal Article 2025 08 05 Employees play a crucial role in the progress and development of any society. Numerous studies have explored various methods to enhance cognitive and behavioral factors among employees, with the goal of organizational productivity and overall quality. In line with such efforts, the present study investigated the effect of cognitive hypnotherapy on mental toughness and cognitive empowerment among the employees of Kimia Petrochemical Company. This quasi-experimental research employed a pretest-posttest-follow-up design with experimental and control groups. The statistical population consisted of all male employees of Kimia Petrochemical Company in Bandar Mahshahr, aged 35 to 50 years, holding academic degrees ranging from a bachelor's to doctorate levels. Two standardized questionnaires measuring Mental toughness and cognitive empowerment were used for data collection. A total of 30 participants were randomly selected and assigned to the experimental or control group (15 in each group). The experimental group received individual cognitive hypnotherapy interventions based on Elman's (2008) therapeutic protocol, delivered in ten one-hour sessions twice a week. One month after the posttest, both groups completed the questionnaires again during a follow-up phase to assess the durability of treatment effects. Repeated measures ANOVA, conducted using SPSS version 24, revealed significant differences between the two groups in terms of mental toughness and cognitive empowerment scores (<em>P</em> < 0.05). Based on these findings, cognitive hypnotherapy appears to have a positive impact on both mental toughness and cognitive empowerment in employees, suggesting its potential as an effective approach to enhancing psychological and cognitive dimensions in occupational settings. <strong> </strong><strong>Introduction</strong> Human resources are considered the most valuable asset of any organization (Farajzadeh & Keyvanlou, 2020). Employees, by applying their knowledge and skills, can make significant contributions to<strong> </strong>the growth and excellence of society (Singh & Sarkar, 2019). Cognitive empowerment is a skill that enables individuals to achieve the power of change (Hsieh, 2022). In another definition, cognitive empowerment can be regarded as a psychological state characterized mainly by a sense of control and mastery, intrinsic purposefulness, and competence (Juyumaya, 2022). Another important concept in organizational work that can significantly influence employees’ productivity and performance is mental toughness. Mental toughness acts as a defensive mechanism in response to stressors and allows individuals to actively demonstrate optimal decision-making and performance in various situations (Tian et al., 2022). On the other hand, modern approaches rooted in cognitive psychotherapy, such as cognitive hypnotherapy, have great potential to enhance these characteristics. Most psychological disorders can be regarded as a negative form of self-hypnosis. Individuals often accept their negative, critical thoughts unconsciously and without resistance (Du et al., 2021) Hypnotherapy consists of several essential techniques, including relaxation, guided imagery, systematic desensitization, cognitive restructuring, and the training of hypnotic skills (Du et al., 2021). One type of hypnotherapy, known as cognitive hypnotherapy, is a combination of concepts and techniques from hypnotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, developed by Alladin (Holler et al., 2022). <strong>Method</strong> This study employed a quasi-experimental design with two groups (experimental and control), using a pretest-posttest format with follow-up. The statistical population included all employees of Kimia Petrochemical Company in Mahshahr, aged between 35 and 50 years, with educational levels ranging from bachelor’s to doctorate degrees. A total of 30 participants were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 (experimental and control). The cognitive hypnotherapy intervention was based on Alladin’s (2008) treatment protocol and was conducted individually for the experimental group over 10 one-hour sessions, twice a week. The follow-up stage was carried out one month after the posttest. Data analysis was performed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS version 24.   <strong>Instruments</strong> <strong>a) Standard Cognitive Empowerment Questionnaire</strong> This questionnaire consists of 15 items designed to assess five dimensions of cognitive empowerment: autonomy, influence, meaningfulness, trust, and competence. <strong> </strong><strong>b) MTQ-48 Mental Toughness Questionnaire</strong> The MTQ-48 includes 48 items and measures six subscales: challenge, commitment, emotional control, life control, self-confidence in abilities, and interpersonal confidence.   <strong>Results</strong> To analyze the research results, data homogeneity and normality were first examined and confirmed. The results indicated that the calculated F-value for the pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages was significant at the 0.001 level. Specifically, the interaction of group and time for both Mental toughness and cognitive empowerment was significant (<em>p</em> < 0.001). Further analyses of the subscales of the research variables were performed separately using repeated measures ANOVA. <strong><em>Table 1.</em></strong> <strong><em> </em></strong><em>Repeated</em><em> ANOVA </em><em>of the Effect of Cognitive Hypnotherapy Intervention on Mental </em><em>Toughness</em><em> and Its Components</em> Variable Source SS DF MS F Sig Effect size Challenge Time 43/622 2 21/811 45/425 0/001 0/319 Time*group 37/489 2 18/744 39/038 0/001 0/282 Commitment Time 40/689 2 20/344 47/035 0/001 0/277 Time*group 34/420 2 16/211 37/479 0/001 0/372 Emotional control Time 23/376 1/138 18/012 6/655 0/015 0/192 Time*group 18/956 1/318 14/385 5/310 0/019 0/159 Interpersonal confidence Time 83/400 2 41/700 59/911 0/001 0/381 Time*group 69/622 2 34/481 50/014 0/001 0/441 Life control Time Time*group 38/489 1/409 27/320 39/113 0/001 0/203 29/956 1/409 21/263 30/403 0/001 0/321 Mental Toughness Time Time*group 434/689 1/405 309/307 66/892 0/001 0/405 417/356 1/405 296/983 64/224 0/001 0/396 Self-confidence in abilities Time 43/800 1/242 35/244 23/686 0/001 0/458 Time*group 37/756 1/243 30/381 20/417 0/001 0/424                               The findings demonstrated that cognitive hypnotherapy significantly improved emotional control, life control, commitment, self-confidence in abilities, and interpersonal confidence. The treatment effects were maintained during follow-up. Although a significant improvement in the “challenge” component was observed in the posttest, this effect decreased in the follow-up stage. <strong> </strong> <strong>Table 2.</strong> <strong><em> </em></strong><em>Repeated</em><em> ANOVA </em><em>of the Effect of Cognitive Hypnotherapy Intervention on </em><em>Cognitive Empowerment</em><em> and Its Components</em> Variable Source SS DF MS F Sig Effect size Autonomy Time Time*group 25/356 2 12/678 52/374 0/001 0/242 20/422 2 10/211 42/148 0/001 0/301 Cognitive Empowerment Time Time*group 194/689 1/262 154/313 120/841 0/001 0//312 174/200 1/262 138/073 108/124 0/001 0/293 Competence Time 36/956 2 18/478 39/329 0/001 0/203 Time*group 31/267 2 15/632 33/106 0/001 0/142 Influence Time 18/422 2 9/211 38/178 0/001 0/121 Time*group 14/067 2 7/033 29/951 0/001 0/110 Meaningfulness Time 28/022 2 14/011 54/546 0/001 0/360 Time*group 25/622 2 12/811 49/975 0/001 0/241 Trust Time 25/800 2 12/900 26/690 0/001 0/248 Time*group 25/800 2 12/900 26/690 0/001 0/188    The findings indicated that all components of cognitive empowerment showed significant improvement in the posttest, and these effects remained significant in the follow-up stage.   <strong>Discussion and Conclusion</strong> The findings indicated that cognitive hypnotherapy was effective in enhancing employees’ psychological hardiness and cognitive empowerment. Cognitive hypnotherapy is based on the principle that many psychological disorders, behavioral dysfunctions, and even physical problems stem from negative forms of self-hypnosis. Negative thoughts and the emotions resulting from them are often accepted by individuals unconsciously and without critique. Hypnotherapy can reduce such negative self-talk and cognitions and even replace them with positive cognitions (Ekanayake et al., 2022). Adopting this approach may lead to reduced anxiety, increased self-confidence, and improved mood among employees. هدف پژوهش حاضر بررسی تأثیر هیپنوتراپی شناختی در کارمندان و بر دو عامل استحکام روانی و توانمندسازی شناختی بود. روش پژوهش نیمه‌آزمایشی و برای دو گروه آزمایش و کنترل با پیش‌آزمون و پس‌آزمون همراه با پیگیری بود. جامعۀ آماری شامل تمامی کارمندان مرد پتروشیمی کیمیا شهرستان ماهشهر به تعداد 542 نفر، در ردۀ سنی 35 تا 50 سال و با تحصیلات کارشناسی تا دکتری است. در این پژوهش، از دو پرسشنامۀ استحکام روانی و توانمندسازی استفاده شد. تعداد 30 نفر به صورت در دسترس انتخاب شدند و به صورت تصادفی در دو گروه 15نفره، آزمایش و کنترل، گمارده شدند. مداخلۀ هیپنوتراپی شناختی از روش درمانی هیپنوتراپی الادین (2008)، به مدت 10 جلسۀ یک‌ساعته، دو بار در هفته به صورت فردی روی گروه آزمایش اجرا شد. مرحلۀ پیگیری یک ماه پس از انجام پس‌آزمون بود. نتایج آزمون آماری تحلیل واریانس با اندازه‌گیری مکرر که با نرم‌افزار SPSS نسخۀ 24 انجام شد، نشان داد تفاوتی معنادار بین میانگین نمرات در متغیرهای استحکام روانی و توانمندسازی شناختی در گروه آزمایش و کنترل وجود دارد (P<0.05). یافته‌های این پژوهش نشان داد هیپنوتراپی شناختی بر دو متغیر استحکام روانی و توانمندسازی شناختی برای کارمندان مؤثر است و می‌توان این روش را راهی برای بهبود مؤلفه‌ای روانی و شناختی افراد دانست. <strong> </strong>       https://cbs.ui.ac.ir/article_30075_16db1f5ba89c2de7507e00012001ae99.pdf