The effect of an acceptance and commitment therapy-based psychoeducation program on mothers' psychological flexibility levels

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of a psychoeducation program based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), developed by the researcher, on mothers' levels of psychological flexibility. Prior to the implementation of the psychoeducation program, a limited number of preliminary sessions were conducted with groups of 5–6 participants to evaluate the content and structure of the program. During these sessions, exercises included in the program were applied and reviewed in a pre-implementation format. The main application of the study was carried out with mothers of middle school students in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul. Using simple random assignment, 10 participants were allocated to the experimental group and 10 to the control group. The group intervention, consisting of six sessions, was applied only to the experimental group, while the control group did not receive any intervention. Data was collected using the Personal Information Form and the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory. A 2x2 experimental design was adopted, with pre-test and post-test measurements administered to both the experimental and control groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS 27 software, and due to the small sample size, non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test) were employed. According to the analysis results, although the group intervention designed to enhance psychological flexibility did not yield statistically significant differences in the experimental group overall, meaningful improvements were observed specifically in the dimension of psychological inflexibility. The limited sample size and the focus on a single variable—psychological flexibility—may have restricted the statistical power of the findings; nevertheless, the results suggest that the program has a positive impact. In contrast, a decrease in scores was observed in both scales within the control group. These findings indicate that an ACT-based psychoeducation program may be an effective intervention for increasing psychological flexibility in mothers. The findings were discussed in relation to similar studies in literature, and several recommendations were presented for practitioners. The results suggest that such programs may contribute positively to mother-child communication and should be more widely integrated into school-based preventive mental health services. Keywords: ACT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mothers, psychological flexibility, psychological inflexibility.