The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Dysfunctional Attitudes and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Among University Students in Malaysia

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression; Anxiety; Stress

Treatments: Other: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07256093

USM/JEPeM/KK/24080672

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can reduce dysfunctional attitudes and difficulties in emotion regulation among university students in Malaysia.The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in dysfunctional attitudes scores compared to those in the control group?
• Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in difficulties in emotion regulation scores compared to those in the control group?
• Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in dysfunctional attitudes scores from pre-test to intermediate-test and from pre-test to post-test?
• Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in difficulties in emotion regulation scores from pre-test to intermediate test and from pre-test to post-test?

Researchers will compare ACT group to a waitlist control group to see if ACT work to reduce dysfunctional attitudes and difficulties in emotion regulation.

Participants in the ACT group will

• attend six weekly individual sessions of ACT intervention (1 hour per session) conducted online
• complete the outcome measures at three different time points (week 1, week 3, and week 6)

Meanwhile, participants in the waitlist control group

• will not receive any intervention during the data collection period
• will be asked to complete same outcome measures at three different time points (week 1, week 3, and week 6)

Enrollment: 32 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 32 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• (a) Malaysian citizens; (b) currently enrolled as a university student; (c) be proficient in both Malay and English languages; (d) aged between 18 and 32 years old; (e) reported mild to moderate depression, anxiety, and/or stress levels according to the DASS-21

Exclusion criteria

• (a) reported severe depression, anxiety, and/or stress on the DASS-21; (b) expected to graduate before study ends; (c) had been diagnosed with any psychological disorder prior to the study; (d) were currently receiving psychotherapeutic medication and/or psychological interventions.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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32 participants in 2 patient groups

ACT Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the intervention group attended six weekly individual sessions of ACT intervention (1 hour per session) conducted online via the Webex platform.

Treatment:

Other: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Waitlist Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the control group were placed on a waitlist and completed the same outcome measures at three different time points (week 1, week 3, and week 6). After the completion of data collection, they were then divided into two groups and attended two group sessions of ACT (1.5 hours per session), each covering three of the six ACT main components.