Background: Adolescence and upper secondary education involve identity challenges and academic pressure, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions. Adolescents in these settings may face increased vulnerability to academic exhaustion and maladaptive coping mechanisms. This study evaluated online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for reducing academic burnout and self-handicapping and improving academic resilience and psychological empowerment among male high school students.
Methods: In a two-group pretest–posttest experimental study, participants were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling from a population of 8,766 male students in public secondary high schools in Zahedan, Iran, during September 2023 to January 2024. Forty students meeting predefined thresholds (burnout >60, self-handicapping >70, resilience <21, psychological empowerment ≤19) were randomly allocated using computer-generated random numbers and allocation concealment to ACT (n=20) or control (n=20). The intervention comprised eight weekly 90-minute online sessions via SkyRoom (10 November–29 December 2023). The control group did not receive ACT but completed identical pretest and posttest assessments. After study completion, controls received brief psychoeducation about managing academic stress. Measures included the Breso Academic Burnout Questionnaire (2007), Aliakbari and colleagues Academic Self-Handicapping Scale (2025), Martin and Marsh Academic Resilience Scale (2006), and Mir Kamali and Nastiezaie Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire (2010). Change scores (posttest minus pretest) were compared using independent t-tests with Bonferroni-adjusted α=0.0125.
Results: Compared with controls, ACT significantly decreased academic burnout (mean change –7.50 vs. –0.25; t(28.40)=–5.549; p<0.001; Cohen’s d=1.75) and self-handicapping (–8.80 vs. –0.15; t(38)=–6.134; p<0.001; d=1.94), while increasing psychological empowerment (+10.20 vs. –0.05; t(23.52)=9.567; p<0.001; d=3.03). Academic resilience showed no significant between-group difference (+0.55 vs. +0.60; t(38)=–0.312; p=0.757; d=0.10).
Conclusion: Online ACT yielded short-term improvements in academic burnout, self-handicapping, and psychological empowerment, but not academic resilience. These findings warrant further evaluation of ACT as a potentially scalable school-based intervention, particularly for adolescents in underserved areas. Additional studies are needed to examine the durability of these effects and whether academic resilience can improve over longer periods.