Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Reducing Perceived Stress and Enhancing Social Adjustment in Youths with Visual Impairment

Visually impaired compared to sighted youths experience more perceived stress and less social adjustment. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on reducing perceived stress and enhancing the social adjustment of youths with visual impairment.

The statistical population of the present study included all youth with blindness and severe visual impairment aged 20-35 in Isfahan having a dossier in the Welfare Organization of Isfahan county and blind associations. Among these people, 40 with visual impairment were selected using convenient sampling method and then randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The research instruments included Cohen’s Perceived Stress Questionnaire (1983) and the California Social Adjustment Questionnaire (1939). The data were analyzed running repeated measure ANOVA using SPSS, version 24.

We found that in the post-test phase, compared to the control group, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group had lower scores in perceived stress and higher scores in social adjustment (p < 0.01) and this pattern maintained one month after treatment (p < 0/05).

Therefore, it seems that ACT is a promising treatment for reducing perceived stress and enhancing the social adjustment of youths with visual impairment.