The efficacy of group acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing academic procrastination and improving difficulty in emotion regulation: A randomized clinical trial

Procrastination, as a pervasive phenomenon in students is interwoven with emotional problems and failure in emotion regulation. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on reduction of academic procrastination and improvement of difficulty in emotion regulation in the students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. Material and Method: This was a randomized controlled clinical trial. Statistical population included all of the students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2017-2018. After screening, among 500 people, 150 students were selected on the basis of evaluation scales, in the first step. Then, we selected 40 students based on the severity of procrastination and our inclusion and exclusion criteria and divided them into two intervention groups (each group included 10 students) and a control group (n=20) using random number generator 3.1.v software. During the treatment sessions, 7 students were excluded from the two intervention groups. We used Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students (PASS) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) for evaluation of the results. The intervention groups received eight sessions of acceptance and commitment group therapy. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. The results of repeated measure analysis of variance showed that acceptance and commitment therapy in the intervention group resulted in a significant reduction in: academic procrastination (42.1%), the total score of difficulty in emotion regulation (36.2%), difficulty in engaging in a goal-directed behavior (30.6%), impulse control difficulties (47.5%) and lack of emotional awareness (23.2%)(P<0.05). Also, the results of covariance analysis indicated that with pre-test control, acceptance and commitment therapy, explains 16.1% of the academic procrastination changes and 45.9% of the changes in emotional regulation total score in the intervention group in comparison to the changes in the control group in the long run (P <0.05). The results of this study have implicit and practical implications for the specialists in order to use long-term acceptance and commitment therapy for reduction of procrastination and emotion regulation difficulties