Investigating the Effectiveness of Treatment based on Acceptance and Commitment of Steven Hayes, Emphasizing the Approaches of Awareness, Acceptance, Commitment and Behavior Change on Aggression, Psychological Flexibility and Self-efficacy in Decidin

Adolescence is a risky period in terms of choosing a job and the future, because all the main characteristics of personality and career interests and desires, work values and choosing a career path are formed in this period. Therefore, this research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of Steven Hayes' acceptance and commitment therapy, emphasizing the approaches of awareness, acceptance, commitment, and behavior change on aggression, cognitive flexibility, and self-efficacy in career decision making.

The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The research population included all teenage girls in Yazd city who were studying in the second secondary level in the academic year 1401-1402, and from these, 2 groups of 15 people were selected by cluster sampling method and randomly divided into two intervention groups and a control group. They were divided and responded to Bass and Perry aggression questionnaire, psychological flexibility questionnaire by Hayes and Betz and Taylor self-efficacy questionnaire in two pre-test and post-test stages. The subjects of the experimental group were trained in acceptance and commitment-based therapy in a group (in the form of training and skills) for 1 session of 60 minutes per week for 2 months, but no training was given to the control group during this period. The data were statistically analyzed using multivariate and univariate analysis of covariance with a significance level of p<0.05 and using SPSS version 23 software.

The survey results showed; the treatment based on acceptance and commitment was not effective on aggression, psychological flexibility, but it was effective on the self-efficacy of career path decision-making with a significance level of less than 1%, but it was effective compared to the control group (P≤0.01).

Therefore, treatment based on acceptance and commitment has been effective on students' mental health and decision-making due to the nature of skills training.