The effectiveness of acceptance/commitment training to decrease experiential avoidance and psychological distress in teenagers with specific learning disorder

The aim of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of acceptance/commitment training to decrease experiential avoidance and psychological distress in teenagers with specific learning disorder. This research is an experimental study with a pre and post-test with a control group design. Statistical population of this study included all of male guidance grade students with special learning disabilities who studied in Ardabil city in the year 2017-2018. The study sample included 44 students with special learning disabilities (22 experimental group and 22 control group) who were selected by multistage cluster sampling and randomly divided into the experimental and control groups. The data was collected using experiential avoidance questionnaire, psychological distress assessment questionnaire and learning difficulties questionnaire. The acceptance/ commitment training was held for the experimental group in eight 90-minute sessions. The results of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated that acceptance/ commitment training significantly decrease experiential avoidance and psychological distress in teenagers with specific learning disorder (P<0.01). These findings suggest that the acceptance/commitment training is an effective method for the use of specialists in educational and therapeutic centers to improve the mental health of students with special learning disabilities.