Olayinka Ayinde Olayinka, Prof Mopelola Olusakin & Prof Adesoji A. Oni
Abstract
This study investigated the efficacy of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Social Skills Training (SST) in mitigating depressive symptoms among undergraduate students in Ogun State, Nigeria. Five research questions and hypotheses guided the study and quasi-experimental pre-test post-test research design was adopted. Multi-stage sampling process was used to select a total of 292 respondents from three universities within Ogun State. Furthermore, three research instruments namely: Goldberg Depression Inventory (GDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory-Adult Form (CSEI-AD) were utilized to collect pre-test and post-test data. Additionally, the selected respondents were divided into three groups namely: ACT group, SST group and the control group. The pre-test post-test data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics, Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA), and Fisher’s t-tests. The findings revealed, among others, that there is a significant difference in the pre-test post-test mean scores of university students with depression symptoms, anxiety and low self-esteem exposed to ACT, SST and those in the control group. It is therefore recommended, among others, that universities should intensify effort in tackling depression among students by integrating ACT and SST programmes into student counselling services as evidence-based interventions to promote mental well-being on campuses.