The effect of an acceptance and commitment therapy-based psychoeducational program supported by digital storytelling on adolescents' difficulties in emotion regulation and psychological flexibility

This study aimed to examine the effect of a digital story-supported psychoeducation program based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on adolescents' difficulties in emotion regulation and psychological flexibility. The study group consisted of forty-nine adolescents. Data were collected using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), a needs analysis form, and a focus group interview form. Content analysis, Friedman test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were employed for data analysis. The findings indicated that the digital story-supported psychoeducation program based on ACT was more effective than the standard ACT-oriented psychoeducation program. The post-test and follow-up test scores on emotion regulation difficulties for Experimental Group 1, which received the digital story-supported intervention, were significantly lower than those of Experimental Group 2 (non-digital version), the placebo group, and the control group. Similarly, the post-test and follow-up scores on psychological inflexibility for Experimental Group 1 were significantly lower than those of the other groups. Based on these findings, it was concluded that the digital story-supported psychoeducation program developed within the scope of the study had a statistically significant effect on reducing adolescents' emotion regulation difficulties and increasing their psychological flexibility.