Group Therapy Based on Acceptance and Commitment to Compatibility of Male students in Primary School with Oppositional defiant disorder

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in childhood. The disorder is one of the most important disorders referral to mental health clinics in children and adolescents, and it will be appeared as a pattern of irritable/ rebellious temperament, oppositional/ controversial behavior and implacability with at least four distinctive symptoms that lasts for at least six months. Oppositional defiant disorder puts children’s adaptation in critical situations and is considered as a serious challenge for the family and the educational environment. Adaptation refers to an attempt to control potentially stressful situations and is a method by which the person has adapted himself with the environment and conversely and grows with it. It also helps to strengthen mental and psychological health and help in useful choices. On the other hand, acceptance and commitment therapy is one of the mindfulness and acceptance-based behavioral therapies which its effectiveness has been known in a wide range of clinical situations. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy group treatment on the adaptation rate of male students with ODD. 

The research design was a quasi-experimental design with pretest, and posttest with control group. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of group treatment, acceptance and commitment therapy was based on adaptation rate of 8-12 years old students with ODD. The statistical population of this study consisted of all the primary students of Tonekabon city (North of Iran) in the academic year 2017-2018. The statistical sample of this study consists of 30 students with ODD that were selected in the convenient method, were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. The data collection tools consisted of an adjustment inventory of elementary students and rating scale of ODD. The training session’s program was arranged in eight 45-minute sessions based on the treatment plan driven from the therapeutic sessions of solution-focused approach. The training sessions and practical exercises were applied two days a week for eight sessions with relatively familiar content in a simple language for participants. The researcher developed a step-by-step training on weekly assignments and regular exercises. We used the descriptive statistics method to answer the research hypotheses including: frequency, percentage and cumulative frequency, mean and standard deviation and in order to determine real data, we used Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Analyze of Covariance test with SPSS-22 was used in a significant level. 

The descriptive statistic indicators related to the individual characteristics of participants showed that there was no significant difference between the research variables in the experimental and control groups in the pre-test. The results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that the data obtained in both the experimental, control groups in the pre-test and post-test phases had normal distribution (p>0.05), and the possibility of using parametric tests was given to the researcher. The results of covariance analysis indicated 8 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy group treatment could increase the adaptation (p≤0.001), emotional adaptation (p≤0.001) and educational adaptation (p≤0.001) in students with ODD. 

According to the results, 8 weeks of acceptance and commitment therapy group treatment could increase the adaptation of male students with ODD, so acceptance and commitment therapy group treatment can be used as an effective therapeutic approach to increase the adaptation of students with ODD. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that acceptance and commitment therapy has enabled students to use the components such as acceptance, dissonance, association with the present, themselves as fields, values, and the identifying the commitment to inappropriate activities and impenetrable impulsivity and making adaptive behaviors consistent with emotional and social situations.