Journal of Counseling Research

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Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance, commitment and reality therapy based on self-care behaviors in female patients with breast cancer.
Methods: The design of the present study was a quasi-experimental group of three groups of pre-test-post-test with control group and with follow-up. The present study population was female patients with breast cancer aged 25 to 45 years who referred to the oncology ward of Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran in the second half of 1398. In this study, three experimental groups were used, the number of people in each group was 20. The method was as follows: the first experimental group, the treatment protocol based on acceptance and commitment, and the second experimental group, the reality therapy intervention, were performed in eight sessions of 90 minutes. But the control group did not receive any intervention. Mixed analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.
 Results: Finally, in examining the effectiveness of acceptance, commitment and reality therapy approaches, it was found that there is a difference between the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and reality therapy on self-care behaviors in female patients with breast cancer. In other words, reality therapy has a greater effect on increasing self-care behaviors in female patients with breast cancer than acceptance and commitment therapy.
Conclusion: Considering the effect of reality therapy approach on increasing self-care behaviors in female patients with breast cancer, the need for more attention and application of this approach and thus increasing the likelihood of self-care in patients is felt more than before.

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 Aim: The aim of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Anxiety and Self-efficacy of children among children with anxiety. Methods: The statistical population consisted of all children diagnose with anxiety in Ahvaz. The research sample consisted of 3 children that were selected according to the results of the Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) , using purposeful sampling method. In this research, a single-case experimental design, type of non-concurrent multiple baseline designs was used. To evaluate the anxiety, Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) and self-Efficacy - Children's Self-Efficacy Scale were used. The data was collected in three phases of baseline, during intervention, and one month follow-up. Findings: The findings indicate that the subjects in the treatment phase experienced improvement in anxiety (30/96) and self-efficacy (28/13), and in the follow-up in regards to anxiety (38/44) and self-efficacy (32/25). The change index was indicative of meaningful changes (z=1/95 α=0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, the research findings illustrated that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy reduces anxiety and increases children's self-efficacy by increasing psychological flexibility and reducing dysfunctional reactions.

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Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Bowenian family therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on the difficulty in regulating the emotion of mothers with one child. Methods: This was a descriptive quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design with two experimental groups and a control group. The statistical population of the study included all mothers with only one child of preschool age in Kermanshah kindergartens in 2019. A total of 45 people were selected through convenience sampling and 15 people were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Data were collected in the pretest-posttest stages with a scale of difficulty in emotion regulation (Grotz and Roemer, 2004). After pre-testing, members of the two experimental groups participated separately in eight 1.5-hour weekly sessions of Bowenian family therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post-hoc test were used to analyze the data. Results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that the effect of Bowenian family therapy and the effect of acceptance and commitment based therapy on difficulty in emotion regulation in individuals is significant (P<0.05). Also, differences in the two treatment groups for the dimensions of emotional rejection, difficulty in performing behavior, difficulty in controlling impulse, lack of emotional awareness, limited access, and lack of clarity, respectively, the amount of F statistic; 4.771, 4.461, 3.524, 3.399 and 5.720 with significant levels were 0.026, 0.005, 0.011, 0.001, 0.003 and 0.009, respectively. The results of Bowenian test showed that due to the size of the differences, the effectiveness of acceptance-based and commitment-based therapy in combining with other interventions on the difficulty of emotion regulation and its related components was higher (P <0.05). Conclusion: Psychologists, when faced with problems of mother-child interaction, evaluate the mother in terms of the level of cognitive emotion regulation and other psychological variables affecting emotion regulation and use effective treatment methods if there is a problem.

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Aim: The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in reducing internalized shame among students with social anxiety. ▌Methods: This study employed a semi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all male upper secondary school students in Ardabil during the 2022–2023 academic year who exhibited symptoms of social anxiety. Following administration of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and a clinical interview, 34 students were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 17) and a control group (n = 17). The experimental group received an ACT intervention based on the protocol developed by Fleming, Kukowski, and Harris, whereas the control group received no intervention. The Internalized Shame Scale (ISS) was administered before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA and ANCOVA). ▌Results: The findings revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups with respect to posttest scores of internalized shame. The results indicated that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) significantly reduced internalized shame in students with social anxiety (p < .05). ▌Conclusion: The findings suggest that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is effective in reducing feelings of internalized shame among students with social anxiety and may be considered a useful intervention for this population.