Objective: Acceptance and commitment therapy has been used to treat anxiety disorders recently. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for psychological symptoms in students with social anxiety disorder, including difficulty in emotion regulation, psychological flexibility based on experiential avoidance, self-compassion, and external shame. Methods: This study was a semi-experimental clinical trial. Twenty four students with social anxiety disorder were randomly divided into two groups after initial evaluations: an experimental group (12 subjects) and a control group (12 subjects). The experimental group received 12 treatment sessions based on a protocol of acceptance and commitment therapy for anxiety disorders, and the control group was put on a waiting list. Self-Compassion (SCS), Difficulty in Emotion Regulation (DERS), External Shame (ESS), Social Anxiety (SPIN), and Acceptance and Action (AAQ-II) questionnaires were used to assess participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: Acceptance and commitment therapy was shown to be effective at the post-test and follow up stages for reducing external shame, social anxiety, and difficulty in emotion regulation and its components, and for increasing psychological flexibility and self-compassion (p < 0.05). The largest effect size of treatment was for increase of psychological flexibility and the lowest efficacy was for the components "difficulty in impulse control" and "limited access to emotional strategies" at the post-test and follow-up stages, respectively. Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment therapy may be an appropriate psychological intervention for reducing the symptoms of students with social anxiety disorder and helping them to improve psychological flexibility. Emotion and related problems can be identified as one of the main targets of this treatment. Clinical trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT20180421039369N1.

Purpose The purpose of this research is to quantifiably measure the relationship between technological advancement, economic growth and societal employment trends across the Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries, while also describing various government initiatives and policy steps taken to promote technology development. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the relationship between the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development Index (IDI), gross domestic product (GDP) and unemployment data. The paper also reviews the broadband and e-readiness components of each BRIC nation to further describe the policies in adoption of ICT. Findings This research concludes that there is in fact a significant positive correlation between technology (as measured by IDI) and economy (as measured by a nation’s GDP) and there is a significant negative correlation between technology (as measured by IDI) and a nation’s unemployment rate benefiting the society. Originality/value This research seeks to describe the impact of Information Communication Technology on economic and society indices in BRIC. Paper contributions include an empirical measurement and relationship between technological advancement, economic growth and employment trends across the BRIC countries, while also describing various government policy initiatives taken to promote technology.

Objectives: Although some studies have shown the effectiveness of music therapy on insomnia (secondary insomnia), no study has so far investigated the effectiveness of music therapy with Persian traditional music on the treatment of primary insomnia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy with Persian traditional music on the treatment of primary insomnia.Methods: This study was a controlled clinical trial with 30 participants with primary insomnia. Participants were randomly assigned to intervention (N = 15) and control (N = 15) groups. Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), insomnia severity index (ISI), and depression, anxiety and stress scales (DASS-21) were used to evaluate the intervention results. Anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia and sleep quality were measured before and six weeks after the intervention.Results: One-way ANCOVA results showed that music therapy with Persian traditional music significantly improved insomnia, sleep quality and depression in the intervention group. There was however no significant difference between the two groups in terms of anxiety and stress. Conclusions:Persian traditional music can be used as an effective and cost-effective way to improve sleep quality and reduce depression associated with primary insomnia.

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Objective Many adolescents suffer from depressive and anxiety disorders simultaneously and current treatment methods do not put enough emphasis on comorbidity of these disorders. The unified protocol for treating emotional disorders in adolescents is a transdiagnostic therapy which targets mutual fundamental factors. Therefore, the current study aims to compare the effectiveness of the unified protocol alone with the unified protocol combined with mindfulness as an additional treatment in adolescents suffering from emotional disorders. Method A quasi-experimental study was conducted with adolescents. The participants had been diagnosed with emotional disorders and were divided into a control group (15 participants) and an experimental group (16 participants). Both groups were offered 14 sessions of therapy. They were assessed at pre-test, post-test, and two-month follow-up. Scales used in the study included the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 (YAM-5). Results The results showed that both of the treatment methods effectively reduced adolescents’ emotional problems, but improvements were more significant in the group administered the additional mindfulness program. Among the variables assessed, non-phobic anxiety disorders and depression improved more than specific phobia and behavioral problems. Between-subjects (Group) partial etas for non-phobic anxiety, depression, specific phobia, and behavioral problems were 0.67, 0.50, 0.23, and 0.16, respectively. Conclusion According to the findings of this study, additional treatment methods such as mindfulness could increase the effectiveness of the unified transdiagnostic protocol for adolescents (UP-A). The therapeutic implications are discussed.