Thesis:

The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on empathy and social skills of poorly supervised and unsupervised elementary school female students in Sabzevar city

The present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on empathy and social skills of neglected and unsupervised female students. This semi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test-post-test design with experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the study was neglected and unsupervised female students in the second year of primary school in the academic year 2024-2025; 30 of whom were selected using convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 each, experimental and control. For both groups, pre-tests were administered, including the empathy questionnaires of Jolliffe and Farrington (2006) and the social skills of Mattson (1983), and the experimental group underwent acceptance and commitment therapy based on the Hayes package (2006) for 8 sessions of 90 minutes, while the control group did not receive any intervention. The post-test was completed again for both groups. Multivariate and univariate analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data, and the results showed that acceptance and commitment therapy was effective on empathy and social skills of poorly supervised and unsupervised female students and increased empathy and social skills scores of the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.01). The results of this study remind us of the need to pay more attention to acceptance and commitment therapy because paying attention to this category can lead to the development of empathy and social skills in this group of girls. Therefore, the use of this treatment method in educational and supportive environments for students at risk of harm is recommended

Keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy, empathy, social skills, poorly supervised and unsupervised female