The Effectiveness of Group-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Social Adjustment of Female Students

Introduction: The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of group-based acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT on the social adjustment of female students. Considering social adjustment is one of the most important issues in adolescence, this issue can be the source of many problems. Methods: The research was a semi-experimental study with a pretest and posttest with a control group. The population of this research was high school students in 2017-2018 in Arak city. The subjects included thirty high school students who were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned in control and experimental groups fifteen people for each group. ACT was applied to the experimental group once every week for two months. Then California test of social adjustment questionnaires used was applied. Data were analyzed using analyze of covariance. There was a significant increase in social adjustment in students who were in the experimental group. Results: The results of this research have shown that acceptance and commitment therapy was effective in enhancing the social adjustment in high school students.  Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, it could be concluded that ACT group training is an effective intervention and can be used to improve social adjustment in students.