Virtual Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Impact on Social Adjustment and Work-Family Conflict Among Intern Nurses

Work and family are the two most influential aspects of a person's life. The conflict between work and family can adversely affect an organization's and an individual's health and well-being. Research is necessary to describe, understand, and address work-family conflict because it arises from how people perceive it. Studies on social adjustment for healthcare staff and nursing interns are scarce in Egypt, according to researchers. Recently, ACT has been utilized to treat various psychological issues and challenges at work, among others. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of virtual group-based acceptance and commitment therapy on intern nurses' social adjustment and work-family conflict.

Research Hypothesizes Intern nurses who engaged in a virtual group-based acceptance and commitment therapy will exhibit lower level of family-work conflict than the control group.

Intern nurses who engaged in a virtual group-based acceptance and commitment therapy will exhibit a higher level of social adjustment than the control group.

Given the nature of the nursing profession, intern-nurses frequently interact with patients, their families, physicians, and all levels of hospital administration. Time, long-term work, shifting hours, sleeplessness, death observation, cancer, high healthcare demands, and a low tolerance for incompetence are all sources of stress for those newly graduate nurses. As a result, their social adjustment significantly affects whether they are able to remain motivated and collaborative. Work conflict has become a type of intra-role conflict in which both parties' work and family responsibilities overlap. This term applies to the unfavorable interaction that exists between work and family when there is a discrepancy between reality and expectations, which disrupts and affects job performance at work or at home.

Intern nurses was trained in the Main University Hospital (El-Miri), University Hospital Smouha, El Shatby Hospital for Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and El Hadara Orthopedic and Traumatology University hospital this study will be conducted. These hospitals were affiliated to Alexandria University for clinical training of intern-nurses in all nursing disciplines for around 12 months, beginning in September 2022 and ending in August 2023.According to the records of the internship candidates' affairs department and internship coordinator at the Faculty of Nursing, the total number of enrolled candidates during this academic year was 800 candidates. G\*Power Windows 3.1.9.7 a program with the following parameters was used to estimate the participants: Power (1-β err prob) =.88, effect size =.5, α err prob = .05. The program identified a minimum sample size of 34 intern nurses for each group. Thus, the sample will be comprised of 70 intern nurses, the study group will compose of n = 35 participants, the control group will be the same number. A representative sample of intern nurses will be allocated to either the study or control groups using the random assignment technique.

"Implementation phase": Seventy intern-nurses will be selected at random to assign the study or control group, the researchers will attempt to match the control group as accurately as possible in terms of age, gender, marital status, and working hours' duration. Then, those participants will meet individually in a private online meeting to create rapport, discuss the goal of the study and the therapy that will be employed, and obtain their written consent.

The pretest phase will begin with the collection of baseline assessment data from the study and control groups on the study instruments II, III, and IV, utilizing computerized forms.

The intervention phase will start with the study group being randomly will be divided into five small groups, each having six ACT participants.

For three weeks, the ACT sessions will be held twice a week for 90 minutes each. Each session will be conducted by two researchers, one as a leader to explain the fundamental core of the therapy for about 60 minutes and the other as a mediator to organize homework assignments with the participants and answer any queries for about 30 minutes.

Evaluation or Follow-up Phase." The last phase, "the posttest," will be done twice immediately following the end of all sessions, as well as a one-month later as a follow-up utilizing tools II, III and V.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* The beginner intern nurses at the academic year 2022-2023.
* Single candidates.
* Willing to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Intern nurses who diagnosed with any chronic medical diseases.
* Intern nurses who diagnosed with any mental illnesses.