Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Training on Academic Emotions among High School Female Students

Acceptance and commitment therapy has a positive effect on improving emotional components and increasing the quality of life in students. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment training on academic emotions in high school female students.

This is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and control group. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all high school female students in the 4th district schools of Mashhad in the academic year of 2018-2019. To select the sample, the multi-stage cluster random sampling method was used, and two classes (with a total of 40 people) were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. For the experimental group, eight 90-minute sessions of acceptance and commitment training were performed, and the control group did not receive any training. The academic achievement emotions questionnaire of Pekran was used to collect data; then, the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) test, independent t-test, and chi-square test were used to analyze the data.

Mean and standard deviation in the pre-test (post-test) of the experimental group for the studied components in class were as following anger: 19.03±6.04 (17.31±6.18), anxiety: 33.04±8.98 (31.12±10.80), shame: 27.77±7.52 (24.68±8.81), disappointment: 20.53±7.76 (18.96±8.04), and fatigue: 28.86±9.90 (25.69±9.07); no significant change was observed in the control group. The results showed that the effect of acceptance and commitment-based education on students' academic excitement was statistically significant (p<0.001), compared with the control group.

Considering the reduction effectiveness of acceptance and commitment education on negative academic emotions, it is recommended to be used in educating students.