The Effectiveness of a Combined Protocol of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Compassion-Based Therapy on Students' Social Adjustment

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: One of the problems that students face it is a decline in social adjustment, and it seems that the combined protocol of dialectical behavior therapy and compassion-based therapy can be effective in this regard. Therefore, the present research was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of a combined protocol of dialectical behavior therapy and compassion-based therapy on students' social adjustment.

Methodology: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The population of the present researcg was all undergraduate counseling students of Islamic Azad University of Mashhad Branch in the 2023-4 academic years, wjich 40 people of them were selected by purposive sampling method and by simple randomly assigned into two groups of 20 people. The experimental group underwent 10 sessions of 90 minute of combined protocol of dialectical behavior therapy and compassion-based therapy, and the control group remained on the waiting list for training. Data were collected using a Demographic Information Form and Social Adjustment Subscale (Bell, 1961). In this research, to analyze the data was used the univariate analysis of covariance in SPSS-24 software at a significant level of 0.05.

Findings: The findings of this study showed that there was a significant difference between the students of experimental and control group in terms of social adjustment. In the other words, the combined protocol of dialectical behavior therapy and compassion-based therapy significantly improved the students' social adjustment (P<0.01).

Conclusion: According to the results of this research on the effectiveness of the combined protocol of dialectical behavior therapy and compassion-based therapy on improving students' social adjustment, it is recommended that psychologists and therapists use this intervention method along with other effective intervention methods to improve psychological characteristics including social adjuatment.