Effectiveness of A Program Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Developing Healthy Behavior Among Secondary School Students at Risk of Infection with the Corona Virus in the Tabuk City

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Psychological Counseling Specialization, Department of Psychology, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

     The current study aimed to identify the effectiveness of the program based on acceptance and commitment therapy in developing healthy behavior among secondary school students at risk of infection with the Corona virus. And to identify the continuity of its impact during the follow-up period. The study sample consisted of (18) female students at risk of infection with the Corona virus at Umm Al-Momineen High School Ramla in Tabuk city, who were deliberately chosen who had low scores on the health behavior scale and distributed them into two groups: the experimental group (9) students and the control group (9) students. The researcher used the quasi-experimental method. The study tools consisted of: a healthy behavior scale (prepared by the researcher), and a program based on acceptance and commitment therapy (prepared by the researcher), consisting of (9) sessions, with an average of (3) sessions weekly, the application of the program took (3) weeks. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.01) between the ranks of the average scores of individuals in the level of healthy behavior after applying the program between the experimental and control groups, in favor of the experimental group. Also, there were statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.01) between the pre-measurement and the post-measurement of the experimental group in the level of healthy behavior in favor of the post-measurement. The results also indicated that there were no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.01) between the post-measurement and the follow-up measurement of the experimental group in the level of healthy behavior; these findings indicate the effectiveness of the program and the continuity of its impact during the follow-up period.
 

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