Effectiveness of mindfulness – based acceptance and commitment therapy counseling on the self-acceptance of children in conflict with the law: a single-subject experimental study

Jurnal Penelitian Guru Indonesia August 31, 2026 Volume 11, Number 2 4 authors

Abstract

Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) are prone to low self-acceptance due to stigma, guilt, and emotional pressure during legal proceedings. Given that CICL often experience cognitive fusion with negative self-labels and engage in avoidant coping, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was selected for its emphasis on psychological flexibility through mindfulness, acceptance, cognitive defusion, and values-based committed action. This study aims to analyze changes in Subject N's self-acceptance through mindfulness-based ACT. The quantitative method uses an A-B-A Single Subject Research (SSR) design, consisting of baseline A1, intervention B, and post-intervention A2. The subject is a CICL identified as N with low self-acceptance. The intervention integrates six core ACT processes with mindfulness exercises, delivered over seven sessions of 40 minutes each. Data from questionnaires and structured observations measure four aspects: awareness of vulnerability, balanced self-perception, separation of behavior from self-worth, and unconditional self-acceptance. Data were analyzed visually. Results showed a significant increase from 10 (low) at A1 to 31 (high) at A2. The 0% overlap confirms changes occurred due to the intervention. Thus, mindfulness-based ACT effectively improves Subject N's self-acceptance and can be an adaptive intervention for CICL with low self-acceptance.

Authors

  1. Nurul Aya Mufidah Rahmat Rahmat

    Universitas Negeri Makassar

  2. Sahril Buchori

    Universtas Negeri Makassar

  3. M. Amirullah

    Universtas Negeri Makassar

  4. Syahril Syahril

    Universtas Negeri Makassar

Keywords

References

  1. No references are available for this article.