The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy(ACT) on Social Anxiety and Social Competence of Students

 In recent years, stressful sources and unfavorable environments are increasing. On the other hand, social anxiety and self-empowerment are always considered an important problem in students. The present research was conducted with the aim of determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on social anxiety and self- empowerment of students. method of the present study with pre-test-post-test design with 3-month follow-up periods with experimental and control groups. The statistical population consisted of all Third year male students of high school in Khoy city in the academic year 2021-2022. The sample consisted of 40 people who were selected by multistage random cluster sampling and assigned in experimental and control groups (20 in each group). A pre-test was conducted for both groups. Intervention program acceptance and commitment therapy(8sessions of 90 minutes) trained in the sample group. and the control group remained on the waiting list. The end of the training period, a post-test was conducted. In order to collect data in this study, Social Phobia questionnaire(SPIN) Connor et al (2000) and Social competence questionnaire (SCQ)Felner and et al (1990). Data were analyzed using repeated measures variance in software SPSS-23. The results showed that acceptance and commitment therapy on the social anxiety (F=19/78, P<0/001) its components, fear (F=7/42, P<0/001), avoidance (F=6/68, P<0/001), Physiological discomfort(F=7/09, P<0/001) and variable social competence (F=15/01, P<0/001), its components, cognitive competence (F=9/26, P<0/001), motivational competence (F=5/10, P<0/001), emotional competence (F=8/01, P<0/001) and behavioral competence(F=9/82, P<0/001) It was effective. It is suggested that this program be used by custodians of education and educational institutions to design preventive educational programs and improve educational achievements.