The Effect of Acceptance Commitment Therapy on College Students' Interpersonal Problems and Emotional Expression Ambivalence: Focusing on Video Call Group Counseling

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an ACT program implemented via video calls on interpersonal difficulties and emotional expressivity in college students during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were students at D University in Busan. Thirty participants voluntarily applied and were randomly selected. Ten participants were assigned to an online group, ten to an in-person group, and ten to a control group. The online group received the ACT program via video call group counseling, while the in-person group received the program through in-person meetings. The program consisted of eight sessions, held once a week for 60-90 minutes each. Pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments were conducted using the Interpersonal Problems Scale and the Ambivalence Scale. To verify the homogeneity of the pre-test scores across the three groups, a one-way ANOVA was performed on each dependent variable. To verify the research questions, a two-way repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the scores across the three groups. We conducted paired-samples t-tests on the pre- and post-test, pre- and post-test, and post-test measurements of the control, online, and face-to-face groups. The results showed that college students in the online and face-to-face groups who participated in the program showed significant reductions in interpersonal problems and emotional expressivity compared to those in the control group, and these effects persisted at the follow-up. Finally, we discussed the significance and limitations of the results.

The purpose of this study was to verify the effect of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) conducted with a video call method in the prolonged COVID-19 era on interpersonal problems and emotional expression quantities of college students. Participants in this study were students of University D in Busan. From voluntarily applied subjects, 30 people were selected by random sampling. Of these, 10 people were randomly assigned to each of the following three groups: an online group, a face-to-face group, and a control group. The online group received the ACT through video call group counseling, and the face-to-face group received the ACT program in the form of a direct meeting. ACT program consisted of a total of 8 sessions. It was conducted once a week, for 60-90 minutes per session. Preliminary, post and later inspection tests were conducted using the interpersonal problem scale and the emotional expression ambivalence scale. In order to verify the homogeneity among the three groups in the prior test, the prior scores of each dependent variable were compared with one-way analysis of variance (One-Way ANOVA). To verify the research problem, a two-way repeat measurement analysis of variance (Two-Way RMANOVA) was used to compare scores of the three groups. Paired t-test was performed for the Pre, Post, and Post-F/U test measurements of the three groups. As a result of the analysis, interpersonal problems and emotional expression ambivalence of college students in the online group and in the face-to-face group participating in the program were significantly reduced compared to those of college students in the control group. The effect of ACT continued. Limitations and implications of this study for future research are also discussed.